Duality
by SharaMoon
Summary: A premonition was told and a child was born of two species, a council arose to protect the child born. As Sookie grows, she is blindly guarded. How long will it last? Can Eric be the hero she will need or will she have to save everyone else herself? AU
1. The child

**Author's Notes:** Hello possible readers!

Okay, so I promised myself that I would not bring this story out until I had more ground and then it hit me and I found the ground I was looking for. I have a plot in mind so I wanted to see how this grows.

This is a whole new world; Sookie is different the most by far from the characters in SVM/TB world. It is basically a new story, just adding the characters from SVM category…with some cannon thrown in, but I don't think much at all right now. ;)

I do hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoy writing it. How many stories do I have now? I have lost count. :P

I own nothing, nada, zip, zilch!

I have no beta, so all mistakes are my own….which probably there are a lot. Forgive my grammar. *sigh*

XOXO-SharaMoon

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><p>The chamber walls were wet with water that was falling from the storm just above ground. The thunderstorm rolled and clashed above the cloaked figures standing in a circle, obviously surrounding something. No face was distinguishable in the darkened room, lit only by thousands of candles that stood wherever there was a surface. This was the first meeting of many, but there was a purpose for this and it affected more than just one species.<p>

These cloaked figures were separate beings, none of which were human. Supernaturals of high ranking species these were and ones that had been hidden for centuries. Most supernaturals stay away from one another, unable to get along because of wars, but this selected group knew that there was going to be something more important than a battle to claim territories around the lands. Hidden by this selected league of elders of all kinds, they were keeping a secret from the world and it had to stay that way.

Under a most unique night when a red moon formed in the night sky, when the ring of red crimson that looked so much like blood and twinkled high above the clouds masked the earth in its shadows, when rain poured heavily from the heavens; a premonition that was given thousands of years ago would happen.

The creatures stepped forward and looked down upon a single woman, lying on a small bed as she writhed and screamed in pain. Sweat poured from her every pore as she gritted her teeth and grabbed the sheets she was laying upon. There was nothing that anyone could do except wait and watch for the premonition to come true and decide on how best to go about dealing with it.

"Push!" A woman doctor known as Ludwig yelled to the woman that was in pain.

The woman held onto the hand of her lover, something quite unknown in this world for it was an odd relationship and one that should not be in this proposition. She cried out as she bore down, her chin resting against her chest as she did as the doctor ordered of her.

The cloaked figures did not move as the woman screamed, it was as if they moved passed the obvious woman and ignored the cries that were emanating from her mouth. They all knew that this would change their world that they were living in. It had never been done, a mix of the species. They had to remain calm and look at all aspects of this. Some in the council would look at this action that was happening before them as a curse on mankind, some looked at it as a gift, but both parties held their tongue and dared not to speak of this because there was nothing to be done as of now. A premonition from one of the most trusted would always come true and they knew that this day would come, they had to be prepared. All they could do was observe and that was exactly what they did.

The woman in pain gritted her teeth and a growl emanated from her lips before the room became silent and the woman fell slack against the bed sheets. A few more moments passed before a new cry vibrated around the concrete walls and the storm above them ceased to exist. All that remained was the high tinkling cry of a newborn child that was new to this world.

For you see, this child was more than just what it appeared to be. A newborn baby that was mixed between the most unlikely species known in the long vast existence of the world. The woman turned to her lover, clutching a beautiful rounded stone in her hand that was hanging from her neck. That object was the reason for this whole mess of events. The stone granted the woman her deepest wish, though it would go further in this life without her and her lover. The man she was deeply in love with was no man at all, but a vampire who was respected among his peers and she was a fairy princess that chanced her relationship in unknown territory. It shouldn't have been, but it was there, the love they shared was genuine enough and it granted her deepest desire; a child.

It is a pity that this woman and her vampire lover would not get to see the child grow. For the vampire was badly wounded as he was injected with silver, that coursed through his veins at unheard of pace. He did not have a maker that was alive and well he could feed on to live. He was to die and he knew this, so did the fairy princess. Something had happened in the labor and the woman bled far too heavily and knowing that her lover was about to die, she gave up. Even though she had a newborn child that needed her, she could not live in a world where her one true love was not in.

"L-Let me see my child." The woman whispered gently. Her voice was barely there from the exertion of the event that just played out.

The doctor looked down among the newborn child that was now quiet in her arms before she handed the child over to the mother that was barely holding on to her own life. The vampire pulled the woman back against his chest and leaned heavily on the walls as he too looked over his child that was being held closely to his fairy lover's breasts. He smiled gently, rubbing his cool finger against her cheek before placing a soft kiss against the newborn's forehead.

The mother of the newborn panted heavily and all the supernaturals in the room could hear her heart slowing as it began to head toward its last beat, but they voiced nothing as they watched this transpire.

"Father…" The woman spoke, barely heard higher than a whisper but it was enough.

A dark cloaked figure stepped forward out of the circle, his hood falling back against his back as he did so. Long white blond hair cascade down his back as he shifted and knelt before his own daughter. He could not voice his disappointment any longer to his child, but accept the decision she had made nine months ago. He would not take the small smile from her face, so close to her death now.

"F-Father, promise me, you will watch over for my child." The woman's lips trembled. "Promise me you will love her as your own. I w-want her to grow up here, not in Faery. No matter that she is half…she will not be welcome among all of our people…we know this."

"My daughter…I promise you." The Prince of the Sky Fae spoke, running his hand against his daughter's cheek.

The room became silent for a few long seconds as the doctor shifted forward. The cloaked figures that stood in the background knew that the new mother did not have more than a few more seconds of life left.

"What shall you name your child?" The doctor asked.

The new mother looked down upon her child before gripping around her neck to remove the object that granted her wish before placing it on the child's chest unbuckled. The child reached up to grab at it, and held onto the golden string. The mother smiled before she shifted the child in her hands. She bent over and kissed the child's forehead.

"My dearest child, know that I love you always. This Cluviel Dor is the reason you are here today and I am so sorry that I will not see you grow. It is my biggest regret, but you are my biggest desire. We want you to live…and grow. T-These people will guard you and protect you because you are special." The mother rubbed her hand through the small curly blond hair of the child and smiled sadly. "We love you, our child…our Sookie."

The mother sighed as her heartbeat stopped and she became slack against the sheets once more, but this time there was no life in her as she passed away along with her husband. Sookie- as the newborn shall be called lay in between her mother's legs and began to fuss once more.

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><p><strong>Niall's POV:<strong>

I had no time to mourn the loss of my daughter. I had to act quickly. Reaching over, I picked the child up into my arms and cradled her against my chest. The newest legacy to my throne was more than just a Fae child. She was half vampire and of course my dearest daughter Michelle was right in the prospect that most would not welcome a half vampire child among their ranks, most wouldn't understand how it happened in the first place. They would tell the difference of course. Fairies are very smart in the aspect of knowing who is of full-blood and not. This child would stick out like a sore thumb. Vampires, much like ourselves in their own cunningness, would surely see differences as well, so what should we do?

We knew this child would have special magic, that much was foretold, but what could her powers be? Would she gain more strength as vampires would? Speed? Would she have her mother's light? Would she need to drink blood? Would she have fangs like a vampire? There were a series of unknowns, all collected into something that none of us could understand, but there was so much to learn.

"Someone needs to watch over this child for the most part. Who can we trust?" I asked the council as I turned around among my peers of Supernatural beings. "Different species will know that this child is not a full vampire and they will also know that she is not full fairy. Where does the future for this child lie?"

"There is too much to leave for chance, Niall." One of the council spoke softly. "We must first see what she is capable of."

"She is just a baby." A woman's voice scolded after she snorted. "What could a baby possibly do at her age? You will not be able to see what she is capable of until she has grown a bit more. Are you all that dense to realize this?"

"Hush." A voice much deeper, smoother, commanded of the woman and she quieted almost instantly. "We must first see how much of a vampire she is, how much of a fairy she is."

"And how do you expect we do that?" I asked, turning toward him quickly.

"Simple enough. You walk out into the sunlight. It is the easiest way to know what kind of powers she will hold. For vampires, if she can day-walk, then she is a threat already." He spoke easily as if he was bored with the conversation.

I nodded. "Fair enough. We know that the sun shall rise in just a few minutes. If this does not work, then I would be forcing my granddaughter to death." I spoke sadly.

I did not like this. I have not known my grandchild for more than a few minutes and I was already playing with her life as if she was an experiment. I loathed myself, but this was the easiest way that we could find out; to be sure.

"We need another test first." A new voice entered. "The blood test we have talked about before. We must see if she wants the blood."

"Who will offer?" I asked as I stepped around. "Fairies will not be able. Our blood is intoxicating to most. If she is more vampire, even though she is a child…" I trailed off. "It would be best if it was just a vampire. She might take a liking to Fae blood and we cannot afford that when she grows."

This has never been done. Giving a newborn blood was something close to blasphemy because of what the blood could do. As the room was silent, Sookie began to wail higher. She was hungry; it was as if she knew we were talking about what it was that she wanted. No one stepped forward at first, obviously none interested in finding out what the child was capable of, but it had to be done. We all knew this.

The cloaked figure that stepped forward was the same one that offered the idea to see if Sookie could walk in the sun. I stepped forward and met him halfway in the circle that was created before us. His cloaked hood covered his features, but some of the long blond hair that was put back into a ponytail was showing over his left shoulder, peeking out of the hood itself.

Carefully he brought his hand up to his mouth and after a snicking sound entered my ears, I saw crimson blood trailing down his pale skin. He swiped his finger that he had pricked above the baby girl in my arms and let a single drop fall down onto her lips. The people surrounding seemed to huddle closer, almost in fascination to wait and see what the child did.

It was clear as the child opened her mouth and intellectually brought her tongue out to collect the blood. The one that offered his sacred essence stepped forward more and looked down at the child before him and it was almost as if she knew he was looking at her. Her eyelids opened to show the most beautiful blues you could have ever seen. They shined brightly as she looked up into another pair of blue and never broke contact as she began to whimper.

He knew what he had done, that much was clear on his almost covered face as I looked at him. His lips were set in a thin line as he watched the child whimper. I knew how vampires worked, inside and out. So I knew he could feel her emotions, just after one drop of blood. With him as old as he was, it was no surprise that it didn't take much for it. I had no idea how he felt about having a connection with a newborn child, but I wouldn't ask either. It was not my place to do so. He willingly offered to be a guinea pig for this and that was all there was.

I peered at him as he pricked his finger once more and placed it carefully at Sookie's lips. She opened and began sucking; extracting more from the wound he inflicted himself. No emotion played on the cloaked figures face; it was emotionless as he studied. After a few moments, his brows furrowed quickly before they relaxed. I looked down at the child to see what had gone wrong and realized that she took it upon herself to reopen the wound with tiny fangs that poked out of her half open mouth.

"I think that is enough for now. We know she will need to drink at least some blood to keep sustained." The man spoke, pulling his finger away from the child before backing away. Of course, Sookie wailed from the lack of blood, but soon quieted down as I rocked her back and forth as I did her mother years ago.

"The sun awaits." Another voice entered from the back.

I nodded in acceptance before turning on my heel and waiting for the vampires to cover themselves fully before I ascended the stairs. I quickened my pace, wanting to get this over with quickly. I made sure I had a good grip on the blanket; to throw over her if this did not work. My heart was still beating hard in my chest and guilt ran through my blood for the first time in many years, but it had to be done. We must know everything there is to know about my granddaughter if we are to keep her safe the best we can.

The sun was just outside the door I was standing at. After taking a few deep breaths, I pushed the door open and entered the outside world. The rain had subsided a while ago, but you could still see that the earth was wet from the heavy rain pour.

I looked down at the child in my arms to notice that nothing was happening. Sookie's eyes were open, looking up at me as I stepped further out of the underground hidden cove we were at. Her skin did not burst into flames, she did not begin to burn under my eyes and I let out a sigh of relief. She seemed to like the sun as her little hands began to come forward and ball up before uncoiling under the sun and it made me smile. She had gotten something from her mother…the love of the sun.

With this came upsetting news at the same time. Although I was happy that she would get to enjoy the sun as most Fae do, it would also cause her problems if she was ever to be found out. Being a vampire, with the means to day-walk was worrisome. If anyone, especially vampires knew of this…they would kill her quickly. We just had to keep that hidden, keep her hidden and we would be alright, or at least I think we would. It would take much guarding and careful watching to make sure she could live her life normally.

But that was another question altogether. How could she live a normal life, when she is not normal by any means? Where could my granddaughter stay, to give her a somewhat normal life?

I turned back around, looking over my shoulder as I did so. No one was around, that much was clear. Our secret society of Supernaturals was not found out and hadn't been for years. This was good, but there was a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that all may not be well in the future. A grandfather's worry is a heavy burden on my shoulders.

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><p>The vampires wouldn't sleep today I noticed. They were too much into conversation as I headed back down the stairs, yelling down to make sure they were covered as I opened the almost hidden door at the top. As I descended the stairs, I heard chattering about where the child could stay, but none were sure.<p>

This was different all together. She couldn't stay with Fairies or Vampires forever, she needed another home with much more ground so she could have something of a normal existence and at the same time, keep her hidden from most. No one in the mortal world, human world knew that vampires or any other supernatural creature existed…yet. Yes, there has been talk about vampires making themselves known, but it shouldn't happen for years yet.

So where could the child live?

It hit me then suddenly. There were some humans that do know about fairies and I know one personally because of my son Fintan was with her romantically years before. She knew of our existence, though she was getting up in her years of age. We would still have to have guards protect them, but that wasn't a heavy burden to pay.

"I have chosen where Sookie will be staying." I said as I laid Sookie in the arms of the doctor. She had to make sure that the child was alright, if everything was working properly.

"And who have you picked?" A vampire wiped his nose against the sleeve of his cloak, blood was collected there.

"A human." I spoke and soon there was only silence before an out roar of comments.

"Tell me, Niall, how will that keep the child safe? This is your grandchild, are you prepared to leave her with a human? The greediest species on the planet."

"I could fight with you there on greed, James Flood." I spoke to the Were who was leaned against the wall. He shut up instantly. "A human would be best, not necessarily for protecting, but keeping her hidden. Most humans do not know of our existence and therefore would not ask questions for this child. She can day-walk, meaning she can walk among them as if it is nothing. She does not look exactly like a vampire, she isn't as pale and fairies look like humans anyway. She could fit in their world more than she would ours."

"So what do you expect to come of her? What will happen when she needs blood? She might kill the human watching her if she smells good enough."

"I don't think that is going to be a problem." The doctor called, we turned to her. "The child seems to have a specific taste. She does not want my blood and she did not want Thalia's either. It seems she has taken a liking to yours." She turned to the cloaked figure that had given Sookie blood already. "We still don't know how she will react to human blood because there is no human in this room though, but I don't think it will be much of a problem."

"What do you mean she has taken a liking to mine?" The cloaked figure stood tall.

"Exactly how I explained it." The doctor snapped back. "She won't drink anyone else's blood. Our blood is just lying on top of her lip. I think if she was hungry enough, she would drink it, but that proves another point."

"Which is?" I asked.

"She does not need as much vampire blood as you all think she is going to need." The doctor shrugged.

"So she will still be able to eat human food?"

"You eat human food, Niall, so I would guess she inherited that, yes." She nodded. "We will try milk and she how she takes to it. She is a special one."

"I would have to agree." I said.

The cloaked figure turned his head to me. "Who is the human you want to take her to?"

"Adele Hale Stackhouse." I answered. "But we will wait for the night to come and we will have to travel a state over to get her with Adele. We do not need to worry about travel, if only some would follow along. We can teleport you with us, but that means you cannot bite the fairies that are guiding you through to another place."

"Who do you want to come?" The doctor asked.

"You of course, Ludwig. James Flood already lives over in that state; Thalia, Pam, and Eric as well." I looked at the three vampires. "You three are our best bet to keeping her safe. Pam might be young, but she is conning. Thalia, I know you don't really…what was the phrase you used before? Ah, 'give a shit', so I am hoping you apply that here as well. You are strong and a good ally for us in this case." At last I turned to Eric, the cloaked figure with the ponytail sticking over his left shoulder. "You are my most trusted ally and it seems Sookie has taken a liking to you. I need you to protect her, Eric."

"You want me to move to another state?" He asked. "One where James Flood lives, so I am guessing you are talking about Louisiana."

"Yes, I am." I nodded.

"It will be like starting over, Niall. I will have to come up with a reason why I am changing states. You and everyone else know I am already a Sheriff here."

"There is an opening for a Sherriff in Louisiana. I believe the one that held the position was killed just a few weeks ago." Russell spoke softly from the corner. He was the king of Mississippi, which would be catastrophic if anyone ever found out that he belonged to this unknown council. "I will let you go, if that is what needs to be done, Eric. I will put a good word in for you as well for their Sherriff."

"Alright, then the matter is settled." Eric nodded before stepping back, his hood finally falling down to his back. He brushed his ponytail back and away from his shoulder to hang down between his shoulder blades.

"We move tonight." I told them before going to pick up my granddaughter.

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><p>Standing outside of the house that Sookie would be growing up in made me sigh. I did not want to leave her. I promised her mother I would protect Sookie, and I will, but not in the way that she wanted me to. I still had priorities in Faery. It would look suspicious if I did not return and worked from earth.<p>

Thalia, Pam, James and Ludwig were all surrounding the woods, making sure that there was no one out there. I doubted there would be, but I wanted to be clear we were alone when this transpired. We didn't need any eyes following us.

Eric and I stood alone for the most part. We were waiting on a person that could possibly put a spell over my grandchild in hopes to keep her vampire side 'asleep' until she comes of a certain age. It hadn't ever been done, but this witch was the best there was. It was worth a try. If it did work, then Sookie wouldn't feel the draw to drink from any human she came in contact with. It would also be as if she was simply a human. We tried the milk Ludwig had spoken of earlier and she seemed to enjoy it, not as much as Eric's blood, but it was a good sign that this could work.

A car pulled up behind us and I looked over my shoulder at the woman who was frail, getting out of the car. She had a two year old daughter along with her, but the girl was to stay in the car. Another witch that I knew as Olivia Fant got out to help the woman move forward. Olivia was a good witch as well, but not nearly as strong as this woman, the one I called for.

"Diana Broadway." I nodded toward her and she smiled faintly.

"Let's see if this will work, shall we?" She said, dropping to her knees before me and holding her arms up for the child.

I knelt before her and placed Sookie into her waiting hands and watched her work her wonders. Diana began chanting softly, whispering words of a different language. There was a red smoke substance that seemed to come out of nowhere, surrounding my grandchild in a hazy cloud of red. Diana began chanting harder and there seemed to be a pulse reaction. A new sound entered my ears and I smiled. The child's heartbeat began to flutter, showing me that it was in fact working. She did not have a heartbeat before.

After a few more minutes Diana pushed the child back into my hands before collapsing to the soil below her in a heap. She breathed deeply as Olivia put her hands on Diana's shoulders to steady the woman. I knew and so did Diana that she was going to die soon and this was the last thing she could accomplish in her life. I smiled and put my own hand on her shoulder.

"I thank you for this gift. Are you sure you do not want to be turned?"

Diana smiled. "No, I know I am going to die and no offense to vampires, but I would rather not become one."

"Fair enough. Thank you."

"It worked." She nodded. "The baby will not feel the draw to have blood; her fangs will stay hidden until she reaches a certain age as we agreed on."

"I must thank Claudine for working on such short notice." I grinned and Diana joined in. "What will the age be that her vampire side wakes?"

Diana sighed. "I am not quite certain, Niall. It will be a while. I doubt that it will happen in her teens. She will be able to live in the human world for quite a few years. I would guess she would be around twenty-two when the magic wears off. I say twenty-two because I kept seeing that number in my mind."

"That is good. Thank you again, Diana, you have done me a great gift."

"You are welcome, but now I must go home. I feel as if I won't live much longer and would like to spend the rest of my time with my daughter."

I nodded. "Always know that I will watch over Amelia, Diana. She will be safe, no matter where she goes in life."

"Then you have just repaid me in kind, Niall. Thank you." Diana stood on shaking feet and Olivia helped her in the car. After a few moments, we watched the car drive away.

I looked at Eric, who has not spoken a word since this had happened. "I know you don't want to really do this. I know you, Eric, but I thank you as well that you are doing this for Sookie."

"I am not doing this for Sookie. You and I both know that this could lead to our deaths if she was found out. I am doing this because I am in the council and because you have asked it of me. I have owed you my life before and I am just repaying you. It has nothing to do with the child in your arms. Quite honestly, Niall, I don't want to die for her."

I frowned slightly. "I know you don't and we shall hope that it does not come to that."

Eric didn't say anything more for a good few minutes. "Let's get this over with, so I can go meet my new Queen."

"Ah, you have talked to her, yes?"

"No exactly, but I know what area I will be in. It is located in Shreveport, just a little bit away. I am the new Sheriff of Area Five."

"Congratulations." I said as we began walking.

"There is no need for congratulations. I'm not exactly the one that wanted to move here anyway."

"Cheer up, Eric." I laughed.

"Have you ever known me to be a cheery kind of person?" A faint smirk played on his lips.

"I know there is somewhat of cheer lingering inside of you, you just got to find the trigger to that happiness."

"Yeah, I don't think that will be happening. I have been trying to find a meaning for nearly one thousand years. You think I will find something to be cheery about here in Bum fucked Egypt?" He laughed and I knew the stiffness between us would pass sooner or later.

"You got that phrase from Pam, didn't you?"

"It was the first thing she said when we reached our destination, if you recall." He grinned. "It seemed useful enough, so I took it into my own vocabulary."

"Right then. We must do this quickly if we are to move forward."

"Let's hope this does not backfire on us, Niall, because if it does I will probably drain you dry and enjoy every second of it." His grin widened. "I haven't had Fae in a long time, you know?"

I rolled my eyes at his form of a joke. "If this fails, then I will let you drain me. How about that? If we are to die, then I will let you enjoy my blood before your life is ended."

He snorted. "That seems like a fair trade to me."

"Then let's do this before Sookie begins to cry once more." I said hurriedly, looking down at the child that began to stir in my arms.

"Let us hurry then." Eric said hastily and moved forward quicker. Something tells me, not just by his comments…but I don't think he likes children very much. Well, he will have to get used to it…he is her main protector from here on out.

We must hope for the best, but…prepare for the worst in the years to come. With Sookie's vampire side more or less asleep, I could only hope that it would last. Not that I don't want her to know who she is, but it is best kept a secret. For now she would live in a world of duality. It was the only gift and possibly curse I could offer her.


	2. Passing of years

**Author's Notes:** Hello readers!

I wanted to thank everyone for their wonderful feedback for the first chapter! I am so, so glad that you are all enjoying what I am writing! It is so much fun to do it!

This chapter leads into a timeline sort of thing. It talks about Sookie growing throughout and stops at a certain age. I don't know if I will do that yet again for the next chapter, or just roll with where I left off. I probably will just roll with it. ;)

**Important:** The way this chapter is set up, it starts with the past. Sort of like little notes that Eric had made from watching Sookie grow, if that helps at all.

I didn't look over much grammar. I never do anyway. *sigh* Well, today I have an excuse. :D I have a major, terrible headache. Forgive me.

I hope you enjoy this chapter**. It is in Eric's POV.**

The way this chapter is told, it is somewhat like

I own nothing, nada, zip, zilch!

XOXO-SharaMoon

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><p>Years pass by very suddenly for me. It doesn't really seem much like anything to a vampire as old as I am. The difference is that I now had to watch over someone that I particularly didn't really care much about. Of course I knew that she was important, something different from everything else there is in this world. That is the only reason why I was doing this, protecting and watching over a child as she grew.<p>

As I did this over the years I saw changes, I was there when she had problems, which seemed to be a lot and it started when she turned five. Being something different, comes with changes for her it seems. Sookie as the child is called developed a skill most did not understand; especially the other woman that cared for her on a daily basis.

I knew something was wrong when I was lying in my bed during the daylight hours. Sookie had to have been in school at the time and I called the Were that was stationed around when I had to go down for the day. He said something happened with Sookie and Adele-the older woman-had to come to pick up Sookie from school earlier in the day because she was screaming.

At first I thought nothing of it. Just a bad day for a child was what it seemed, but when the night came, I had gotten a call from Adele. Carefully, making sure that I wasn't watched by anyone, I made my way over to their home.

Adele had opened the door fervently, holding back another little boy- her real grandchild-as he held his hands over his ears. I could hear screams from the inside of the house and it made me raise an eyebrow at what could be wrong.

"S-She has been like this all day!" Adele spoke, obviously frightened.

"Make it stop! Stop talking! I know you are!" Sookie screamed from the inside of the house.

I peered around the threshold of the door and looked inside to the girl that had tears streaming down her red and puffy face. Her eyes were puffy and she was rocking back and forth, holding her head in her hands. I have never seen this happen.

"I didn't know if I should take her to the hospital or not." Adele said.

"He thinks I'm crazy! J-Jason thinks I'm crazy!" Sookie cried. "Gran, please tell him to stop talking!"

"Honey, he isn't talking!" Adele whispered, turning to try to hush the crying child.

I found this all quite odd that a child would say people were talking when they obviously weren't. Jason-the little boy-had not said a word since I have arrived.

Sookie had noticed my presence then and rushed over to me. She had met me every so often, when I had to come in to check on her. Obviously she did not know what I was at the time, but it would change as she got older. She would know about the Supernatural world, she just wouldn't know she was one of them for quite some time.

Her hand grabbed my own, something I don't like. I do not like people touching me, but she was a child and I wasn't going to throw her off. As her little fingers curved around my hand and held on, the crying had stopped. Sookie panted before me, before looking up into my eyes.

"Y-You made the talking stop, Eric." She beamed up at me.

I gazed down at her and let my hand fall away from hers. Almost immediately she gripped her head again, saying that everyone was talking once more. She had a gift, it seemed. An ability that had to do within the mind. I was guessing she was a mind-reader. I have never met one of those before, but I have heard about some in legends. Very few of them actually existed. What I didn't understand was why she wasn't able to read my mind, but I was thankful for it. I have many secrets and not ones that I wanted to share with a five year old girl.

After that day I had to stay closer until she was able to get it under control, putting up barriers to help her have a normal life. It was impossible of course, for all of her supernatural side to be hidden. This quirk, this ability, was one of the things that could not be held back by the spell the witch cast upon her a little over five years ago. The only thing we could do was wait and see if she would eventually be able to read vampire minds as well.

Staying closer meant that Sookie started to become fond of me. I was not used to that and it was even more horrendous when Niall had said he thought she needed to start drinking some blood again. At the age of ten was when Sookie started to get sick, ill out of nowhere. She began to look pale, much too pale to pass for a human. It led us to believe that her vampire side was starting to demand some source of supply. Niall had picked me for the job, of course. I was the one that gave her blood to begin with.

I did not enjoy having a child's emotions attached to me. I wasn't used to feeling much and I felt everything as she grew. My blood is old, meaning it will last much longer and through that experiment the first time I met her after she was born, she had a lot of my blood that day. It meant that it last for years. When Sookie was five and a half my blood started to wear off and then was gone totally. That was fine by me; I didn't have to have unwanted emotions of a child on my shoulders anymore. It just meant that I had to check in more often to make sure she was doing well.

So when Niall asked me to give her just a bit of blood a few times a week, it was more than just for her health. It was also for me being able to watch over her better. If she was in trouble, I would know it and could go about it better than most could. I did not refuse, but that did not mean I was happy about it. I would always know how she felt, no matter what and that…bothered me. She was child, plain and simple, meaning she had more emotions than most people do. Happy, ecstatic, anger, hatred, joy and so much more sporadically throughout the years that passed.

Niall knew that she could not drink from me physically and because she did not know she was half vampire, I couldn't just open my vain and let her go at it. We slipped small amounts into her drinks when she wasn't looking. Of course, I had to do it. She could not read my mind.

It was around thirteen that I wanted to back away from her. That was the first time that I ever really felt the need to just move away and forget about everything that I had promised. The only reason was because she started to have feelings for me. A crush, as humans would call it. With her emotions coming through very clearly to me, it was more than just bothersome. Not that I would mind that, I was very good with women of all kinds, but I simply don't go looking for 'jail bait' is the words Pam had supplied in this situation.

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><p>Sookie is seventeen years old now and she had grown much in the last few months, getting a more womanly figure as that happened. It happened so suddenly that I couldn't believe it at first. She had an awkward stage when she was fifteen. Pam had said just a few nights ago that 'Sookie seemed like an ugly duckling, but she grew out of that and is now a gorgeous swan'. I would have to agree, she was a beautiful girl, but still a child.<p>

I have said many times that it was bothersome to guard her, to have to watch her every move to make sure that she was not found out. I was like her shadow in the night, wherever she went. Through the years, even though I had not planned it, I became closer to her. It became much less of an obligation to guard her and more of a want to do so. She was in fact a nice girl most of the time, with good manners as she grew. Her adopted grandmother had raised her right. I was becoming intrigued with her. It was not something I was fairly happy with regardless.

When I had gone over to her home that night after my musing her past, I found out that she had a date tomorrow during the day. I stood in her doorway as she picked through dresses. She still had a faint crush on me and I guess she always would, was that because of the blood? I really did not want to think about it because with blood also comes some very…intense dreams. I did not want to think that I subjected a child to that, if at all. I don't know. She had never spoken of it.

"What do you think about this one?" Sookie held up a pink dress, I noticed the way the dress dropped low in the breasts; too low.

"Think again." I crossed my arms.

She huffed a sigh, throwing her blond hair over her shoulder and bent over on the bed to pick up another one.

"This one?" She held it up; it was much like the first one.

I rolled my eyes. "That isn't going to work either."

"You aren't helping, Eric!" She growled.

I sighed. "You are picking dresses that will get you bad thoughts from the…_boy _you are going out with. It would be on you, not on the male."

"Are you saying it's slutty? And that I am hoping for that?" She asked hesitantly.

I raised an eyebrow. "Is that something you are trying to go for?" I couldn't help the annoyance in my voice.

"No!" She said instantly, a blush forming on her cheeks. I wondered if when the spell wore off that her blush would fade and a much paler skin tone would adorn her skin.

Her tone, the quickness of how she answered had me thinking. "Sookie, what do you want for tomorrow when you are out on your 'date'?"

"W-What do you mean?" She asked.

"You know exactly what I mean. I have known you since you were born and I am a vampire, which you also know. I can read you better than you have any idea. What are you trying to get out of going out?"

"I-I don't want people to think I am 'crazy Sookie'." She admitted. "I want to have a boyfriend and I don't want to hear his thoughts…it's a…a _turnoff_." My eyebrows rose even higher. She continued. "I want to have a relationship and not have to hear that he is going to try to kiss me. I want it to be sudden. I want what my friends have."

"You mean your friends that are having sex?" I asked, slipping in to sit on the chair that was by her vanity.

"Eric!" She scolded. "How do you know that?"

"Sookie, I hear your phone conversations every night. Some conversations you have, a seventeen year old girl should not talk about, especially over a phone which can be tracked and bugged."

"That's because you are always here and you don't need to listen in on them, Eric! It's not like my phone is bugged either." She yelled. It did not faze me. "Speaking of which, why are you always here?"

This question had come up before. Why do I always stay around her, why I always come to the house? I sighed.

"I've known your grandmother. I have for a very long time. She is a good friend of someone that I know, or she was I mean. That person asked me to watch over her for them because they could no longer be here to do it themselves. By watching over your Gran, I also watch over you and Jason."

"You're always with _me_ though." She said.

"Well, since you have a mind reading ability, your Gran thought it would help for me to be around you. Since it could lead you into some difficult situations. Also, when you are having a bad day and can't put up your barriers, I am here to be like pain medication." I looked at her. "What? Do you want me to say I am not getting paid enough to watch over a girl that asks too many questions? Because I can if that is what you want."

"You get paid for watching over me? Like Gran actually pays you for that?" Her voice was softer.

"Like I said…obviously not enough." I answered.

"Why…why don't you just leave then? If you don't care about me?" Her voice became sniffily, which led me to believe that tears were just on the horizon. I hated tears and I was the only person that seemed to ever make her cry anymore. She was tough, but I knew her better than everyone else. It was why she felt like she could open up to me.

"For one, I do not get paid to watch you. For two, I really don't care about anything of any sort so you should not take that personally."

"That just warms my heart, Eric." She said sarcastically. "And I am picking the blue dress. Good night now, because I don't need you to be my 'pain medication' tonight."

She slammed the door after I had walked out. So I seemed to be an asshole tonight and I guess that was because of all these new things about her that I seemed to enjoy. She had a cheeky attitude about her that I found very cute and adoring, not that I would admit that. She was still a child and one that I felt the need to protect, so when she talks about having a normal relationship with a human boy the way her friends do, then I seem to get upset. She is much too pure for the guys that go to her school.

So I went back to my home, called the Were to tell him to follow Sookie tomorrow on her 'date' because I would not be able to do so because it was during the day and I sat feeling how upset Sookie seemed to be all night long. I wondered if she got any sleep at all.

The next day as I was lying in my bed asleep, I woke with a start when a strong hit of terror ran through my body. I sat bolt upright in my bed, my necklace flying to the side to hit my bare shoulder as I rolled over to grab my cell phone.

I dialed the Were and waited impatiently for him to pick up his phone, when he did, I didn't give him time to speak.

"What happened?" I demanded.

"There was a mishap, Mr. Northman. Sookie seems to be okay. I broke it up the best I could, but I got there a bit late and…" The phone cut off.

I looked down to notice that my phone had died and I did not have the charger in my room. I couldn't go out because the rest of the house had windows so I was stuck, not knowing what had happened. I growled, throwing the phone across the room and watched as it broke against the wall.

When the night had come, I rushed from the room and didn't think about taking my car. I took to the sky and flew to the house. I didn't bother going to the door, I still was invited into the house so I flew to her window and opened it. She gasped and looked up at me as I entered.

Her makeup had run from her crying and when she saw me, she threw herself at me as she did most of the other times. She wanted me to make her feel better, but I didn't know how. I looked down at her hair as she cried into my chest.

"It was a-awful! I tried to be like all the other girls, but…it's not the way I am, Eric! I-I got scared when he tried to grab my zipper. His thoughts were vial and I couldn't get over it! I pushed him, telling him to stop and…and he got mad." She sobbed into my shirt.

Her last statement got me thinking. The boy got mad? Okay, what happened?

"Sookie…stop crying. What did he do?" I grabbed under her chin and looked at her face, but I didn't need her to answer my question when I saw a bruise starting to form on her right cheek. A big bruise.

I leaned down, acting on instinct and sniffed her shirt. I was getting the scent of the human boy that decided to strike a girl. When I caught his scent I moved her over to her bed and sat her down.

"Stay there." I told her and moved back over to the window.

"W-Where are you going?" She asked; standing up.

"Just stay there. I'll be back in a few hours. I have some errands to run. Will you be fine while I'm gone?"

"Y-Yeah." She said and I moved toward the window further. "Eric? I'm sorry…for yelling at you yesterday."

"It's fine. Get changed and take a shower." I said before I moved through the window.

I did have errands to run, but I wanted to start with this newest one first. I moved through the grounds to come upon a boy that had the same scent that was on Sookie's dress. He was drinking and sitting absolutely alone outside his house. I could not kill him, but I would scare him horribly.

I jumped down quickly, giving him no time to run and I yanked him away from his house. I covered his mouth with my hand and knelt over him as he lay trembling in the grass. I let my fangs slide down slowly and tears began to form in the boys eyes.

"You have hurt a very important girl, I hope you know and I will not tolerate that." I leaned over him, snapping my jaw in his face to hear a muffled scream come from his mouth. I looked down to notice that his pants had become wet and I laughed. "You are not a man, by any means so you should not try to take something important from a girl if she is not agreeable." My eyes met his. "Do you understand?"

The boy shook his head fiercely, tears falling from his eyes fast. It was time to leave the boy be, but first I would glamour him of course. I smirked as I leaned over more and started to work.

"You do not remember me and you do not remember you had a date with Sookie Stackhouse tonight, do you understand?" The boy nodded. "Very good. Now, you are also gay. You have just figured that you wanted to come out of the closet and tell the whole world that you are." I looked down at his football jersey for the school that Sookie goes to. "This way, you won't have to even look at Sookie again. How about that?" The boy nodded. "Good, now you can leave."

The boy got up and walked slowly to his house, with me watching as he went. I had to laugh slightly, because I had not had that much fun in a long time. Yes, it probably wasn't very nice that I have him thinking he was gay, but it doesn't really matter now. It was done.

I had another meeting before I went back to Sookie's. Sookie seemed upset, but this was a meeting that I could not miss. It was time to talk about the Great Revelation that was to come very soon, I needed to get as much information as I could and then tell Niall and other members of the hidden council.


	3. Meeting

**Author's Notes:** Hello dear readers!

It has been much too long! Wow, I have been incredibly busy as of late! I hope you are all doing well.

Thank you all for the wonderful feedback. Every one of you is amazing.

So here is the next chapter to Duality and I hope you enjoy it!

So here you are…go read. :)

I own nothing, nada, zip, zilch!

XOXO-SharaMoon

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><p>Rows upon rows of vampires stood in the Queen's home. Some chatted quietly, drinking the new substance that had just surfaced much quicker than any vampire ever thought would happen. Synthetic blood. Yes, a new invention to the world was being passed around on golden platters and each of us had to try the shit.<p>

It was something that seemed impossible years ago, but here I was, with synthetic blood in my hand. I did not drink it as of yet. The smell alone indicated that it would not taste exactly like the blood of humans would. It was boring, bland and yet, this substance in the glass bottles seemed to push us to the edge of telling humans we exist in the world. How could something this small, held in my hand, be our new way of life?

As I looked around the room and watched the vampires take sips of their synthetic stuff I knew that this could not fully sate us. Their noses would wrinkle when the crimson concoction touched their pallet, but they kept on drinking anyway. Younger vampires seemed less disturbed by this new invention to mankind. I knew it was because they had not had as much experience as I. I have tasted almost everything there was to taste when it comes to blood. Living as long as I have, you would understand.

"I see everyone has their blood." A womanly voice came from behind me. I didn't have to turn to know who that voice belonged to.

It was quick and all of the vampires moved and parted like the red sea as the Queen came through the room. Her long red silk dress flowed on her body as she played with the pearl necklace she was wearing. I moved slightly to the side when she reached where I stood. I watched as her eyes turned to me, looking over me carefully before moving forward to her throne bed.

She sat down with grace, much like a queen would, but it was all an act. I knew much about Sophie-Anne and quite honestly I did not believe she should have been queen. That was my opinion, one that I would not voice. Her children stood beside her. All three of them sat on the bed as she did and I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes at her superior antics. If I wanted to, I could have her crown and so much more, but that was just it. I did not want that life. It is much too…_tame_ for me.

"Do you know what this is called?" The queen asked, turning her head to meet every vampire's gaze before she pointed at a bottled blood. None answered. They wouldn't speak if she did not necessarily ask them. "It is called True Blood and this is what is going to give us freedom to live among the humans."

There was a quiet stir and that alone was noticeable. Vampires usually don't think much of anything, let alone make a small rumble of chatter as the Queen spoke. Sophie-Anne did not like to be interrupted and you could see that on her face as her eyebrows drew down and a look of malice sparked in her eyes.

"Vampires of this state should know where they stand." She said with much less calm. "It is not only I that want this. Vampires across the country, higher branches of vampires are pushing this forward to give us a life not hidden in the shadows."

"Some of us like to be hidden behind shadows, your majesty. This could change everything. We might not be welcome among the humans."

Sophie-Anne eyed the vampire that dared interrupt her and I almost felt sorry for the youngster that decided to do that. With a flick of her hand, her children marched forward and pushed a stake through the man's chest. We all watched as the vampire died before turning our eyes back on our Queen.

"It is on the orders of the hierarchy of vampires in this country to exterminate ones that are not for this new world we are trying to create. Don't you see? It isn't about walking among the humans; it isn't even about synthetic blood that our scientists have made. It is about giving us the right to not hide in the shadows. I know that some of you are comfortable that way, but think of all the possibilities we could have if we moved forward." She stood as she spoke, moving around the group of vampires that stood before her. "We could walk among the earth owning our own businesses, living semi-normal lives, feeding on humans if they are willing. We would not need to be thieves of getting our food source anymore. This synthetic blood," She picked up the bottle on one of the trays. "Is a_ show_ for the humans. We want them to believe that we can survive without feeding on them. We want them secure enough to believe that we found a way to live among them, but we all know this isn't enough. Yes, you will be able to survive on this substance, but it will not ever fully sate you and your hunger. Think of how much easier it will be to get the blood from someone once we come out of hiding. Once the humans begin to trust us more, thinking that we can survive on synthetic blood, they will be more willing to share. Not only am I talking about blood, my followers, but I am talking about sexual relations." Sophie-Anne grinned. "We all know how much we like sex. Anyway, nothing is really going to change. You can still feed, but you must do it carefully. Put on an act that the synthetic blood works and we can get whatever it is that our un-beating hearts' desire!"

I closed my eyes for a moment. She was definitely giving these younger vampires new ideas for this world they are trying to create. Yes, we will be able to feed among the willing, but it is much harder than she is playing it off. The ones that are caught still feeding on unwilling humans will in fact be punished and killed. Human authorities will not want us to feed off humans at all and there will be laws put out for this. She is blowing smoke up their asses and they believe everything.

"Eric?" Her sickly sweet voice erupted in my ears and I opened my eyes to look down at my Queen. "Do you not agree?"

"Your majesty, it is not that I do not agree with your statements. It is the fact that we all know there will be possibilities that humans could rebel against us. I am all for us coming out into the open, but we must do it in a way that humans will not feel threatened by us. What do you think will happen when we come in to take their jobs? I am sure none will be very happy about that. It is like aliens coming from Mexico, southern countries. We all know we will be outcasts because humans will still think they are superior against us. They have newer technology and ones that could very well kill us. The world has evolved, we cannot take this lightly. We come out and there could be war against us."

"Very thoughtful, Eric." She nodded. "There is a possibility that humans would rebel, but that is why we have people on the inside, Eric. Governors have been put into office for this case, very recently I might add. Yes, there are vampire governors. Not many, but enough to help us along. We have the ability to glamour."

"So you are saying we glamour the human race?" I couldn't help but ask.

"No, just glamour some politicians into believing that this is a good thing." She giggled. "We want to live in the world, not hidden. Let the humans think they are superior over us if they would like. We all know we are the superior race." She looked to the side for a moment. "We have all talked about coming out before, but we were never this close. There is no point in fighting against what the higher vampires want, Eric. We are coming out of the coffin and we are doing it in two days. We want something more in life, we all know we do. It might be a bit less…_boring_ if we come out."

There was some shuffling around the room, but my eyes never swayed from Sophie-Anne's. She was grinning at me darkly and I knew that I could not trust her as I stared into her eyes. But that was not the point of me being here. I was trying to put off our existence for no other reason than Sookie. If we in fact come out, then there is more of a possibility that Sookie could be found out. Vampires usually do not feed in small towns for risks of being seen, even at night. A smaller community means that people know each other better, which means that it would get suspicious if a new face comes into town. It wouldn't matter now. Vampires would travel to different places without the need to look over their shoulder anymore.

I could not fight Sophie-Anne's final ruling, nor could I fight the hierarches and their judgment on this. It was a small fact in itself that we are coming out and we are doing it in two days. No one could overrule this, not even I.

"Yes, my queen." I bowed slightly.

Sophie-Anne rested her hand on my shoulder and I had to fight the instincts to break it off. "You are going to lead us, Eric. I have come up with an amazing idea." Her eyes twinkled as I stood from my bow to look at her. "You are opening a bar in Shreveport to lead us through this revelation and I want you to open your doors the night after we come out. I have the building set up already, you just need to decorate it anyway that you would like. Have your child help you; I know she loves that kind of thing."

"Yes, your majesty." I bowed.

"Let's make a toast, then?" She offered and I nodded. She turned to her other guests. "We stand here as a species that will live and change this world. Each of you should be proud of what you are." She held her bottled blood up to her lips and met my eyes. Her eyes narrowed for a moment. "Drink." She commanded.

I raised my eyebrow slightly. I lifted the glass a bit higher, before pushing it to my lips. "Cheers." I whispered before taking a sip. I bowed once more and then I turned to make my leave.

I took to the sky to fly back to Sookie's house. Once I reached the ground, I looked up at the sky before turning over the cellphone that I had. New technology and you can buy it from the internet. How quaint.

I called and told Niall of everything that I learned. How the vampires were to come out in two days' time and all he could offer me was to keep watching over Sookie and not do anything rash to bring attention to her. She was still young, but at age seventeen, she was going to start branching out. Sookie will try to find out who she was and although I wanted to keep her hidden from anyone's prying eyes, I knew that I might not be able to do such a thing. I might not be able to protect her from everything.

After my conversation, I slipped into the house unnoticed. It was late and I would have to leave in two hours, but I wanted to make sure that she was okay. Her emotions were erratic all night, going back and forth so quickly I didn't know what to make of it.

I made my way through the house silently, noticing that everyone else was asleep. I glided up the stairs and came to rest outside her door. I waited for just a moment, listening to her breathing. She was asleep, but that didn't matter. I opened the door slowly and then stepped into her room.

I looked over her, noticing that she did follow my instructions. Her golden blond hair was still damp from the shower and she was wearing a big shirt to sleep. She looked comfortable the way she was sprawled out on her bed. I walked over to her silently, kneeling beside her bed and looking at her peaceful face as she slept. There was one curl that was hanging down over her face and instinctually, I lifted my hand to brush the curl behind her ear.

Sookie shivered before her eyelids fluttered open, revealing her beautiful blues. She yawned and stretched, rubbing her eye with the back of her hand before scooting over for a place for me to sit. I took it without any thought and lay down next to her. My back was leaning against the headboard and my legs stretched out along the narrow thing.

"So, where did you go?" Her voice was hoarse from sleeping.

"I had another meeting I had to go to." I answered, looking straight ahead. I crossed my arms over my chest and relaxed more into the bed.

"What kind of meeting?"

"Do you always ask so many questions?" I asked, turning my head to look down at her.

Sookie huffed, putting her hand up and cradling her head. "I'm sorry. I forget that you never really answer any of my questions regardless. You're a riddle machine."

"I see your sarcasm is back."

Her eyes widened slightly before they dulled. "I'm sorry. It's just been a long night. I was expecting you hours ago."

"The meeting took longer than I thought it would." I sighed.

"Eric?" She whispered. "You know you can tell me anything, right? I mean, I tell you everything. I want you to know that you can trust me."

"Don't take this personal, but I really don't trust anyone."

"You trust Pam." She disagreed hotly.

"There is a difference, Sookie. I trust Pam, because I made her into a vampire. She does whatever I say." I looked down at the girl who was biting her lip now. That thoughtful expression hardly ever touched her features anymore, but it was there now. "What are you thinking about?"

Sookie's blue eyes turned to meet mine. She was still biting her lip, nibbling on it. "I always thought of what it would be like to…to be a vampire. I feel like there is more to me than I am really seeing."

I paused for a moment, not really sure what to say. I knew Sookie's real identity, I knew her more than she knew herself. This statement was coming very close to her asking others. With Sookie living in a world of duality, I had to protect her from more than just the outside world. I had to protect her from something even more than that. I sighed again.

"It isn't easy to be a vampire, Sookie." I paused. "You have an ability to read minds, so of course there is more to you than you can really see. You have to grow more to understand yourself better." I said simply.

Sookie didn't voice anything else after that. She simply drifted off to sleep and once she was, her arm crept over my stomach and she huddled closer to me. I did not throw her off and I wondered why. I never let any woman touch me, but I let a younger girl do things like this. As I looked down upon her, I realized that her being closer to me made her comfortable. She felt safe, she slept better. Who was I to take that away, when I was meant to keep her safe? I am to protect her…even from herself sometimes.

Without really thinking about it, I let my fingers comb through her golden hair.


	4. Bad Sookie

**Author's Notes:** Hola, readers! :P

I hope you are all doing wonderful! I was having a really long night, so I decided to sit down and write and this is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it! :P

Thank you for all of the wonderful feedback! Y'all are awesome!

I seriously didn't look over grammar much either. Wayyy to long for that. Lol! Forgive me.

For all that read True Desires, my other story; I plan on finishing it hopefully this week. Meaning that that story will be done and over with. I promised an update to a reader, so I have to finish it. I just wanted to give you a heads up, if you do read that as well.

I own nothing, nada, zip, zilch!

XOXO—SharaMoon

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><p><strong>Sookie's POV:<strong>

Holding my books against my chest, I wriggled through the mass of students in the hallways. I wasn't having a very good day. Well, I should be honest. I wasn't having a good few days actually. Three days ago was the last time I saw Eric. If I wanted to be technical it would be three days in like thirteen hours, but who was counting specifics? Not me, that's who.

He seemed busy, edgy over something that he wouldn't fill me in on. He was always like that. He never trusted me enough to talk about things that could be bothering him and yes, there was something bothering him. I could just tell with the way he held himself that night.

It was odd really. He hasn't been to the house in almost three days- that I know of- and that speaks volumes in itself. He comes over almost every night at least. I guess it had to do with the vampires coming out. It was all the talk in school today. Vampires came out of the coffin, so to speak last night on national TV. Crazy, I thought. I believed that they wanted to stay hidden forever.

Eric hadn't even brought that up and it was a huge event, I thought. He could have at least given me some warning. Well, I guess it isn't any of my business, but it should have been. I thought we were…friends? Could I use that term with Eric? I really don't know anymore.

Another thing was bothering me very much. Eric had never missed one of my birthdays and yesterday was my eighteenth birthday. It's one of the biggest birthdays there is for a person. Did he just forget? I'm not sure. I bet he just forgot because of the vampires coming out into the open, but I would be lying if I said it didn't hurt just a bit.

Pam came over though, which was surprising. I was looking at my television screen, eating some cake when the big revelation-that is what they called it-came on the screen. I sat with my mouth hanging open, a piece of cake threatening to fall out as I watched the vampire talk. I've never seen that vampire before. Her red curly hair bounced as she spoke to the viewers at home. Sophie-Anne was her name, but I didn't catch much of anything else. I was too in shock. Maybe that is why Eric didn't come over, but as I was saying, Pam did.

She had gotten me a pair of pumps; black ones that were simple yet elegant. I didn't know what to do with them. I rarely go out, but I knew she had a fetish for shoes and I accepted them kindly. Pam and I were on talking terms, but I doubted that she calls me her friend.

I just didn't know what to make of it really. Pam had come, but Eric didn't. She also gave no word as to where Eric was and I didn't push for answers. If he didn't tell me before, then I guess I wasn't meant to know.

I sighed, gripping my books just a bit tighter to my chest. I'm eighteen now, but I still feel as though I am still growing in a way. I can't put my finger on it, but sometimes I don't think I know who I really am. Do all people feel like this? That they don't know who they are in the world? I guess I feel lonely, which I shouldn't be. I have friends, not many, but the ones I have are great. I'm also still young, why should I feel lonely?

I leaned against my locker, before turning around and opening it. I had to put my books away because it was the weekend and luckily for me, I did all my homework already. Just call me a nerd, I guess.

Just then the locker next to me slammed shut and I was then looking into Tara Thornton's eyes as they gleamed and sparkled. Someone was in a good mood, too bad I couldn't be like that.

"Hey." I spoke lamely, shutting my locker and flicking the lock around.

"Hey, Sook. So what are you doing this weekend?" She asked, crossing her shoulders and checking out the guy that just passed.

I glanced at the guy too noticing who it was. It was the guy that tried to advance on me when I didn't want it. Well, I thought I did, but when I got into it I knew I just couldn't be like other girls. Nick his name is. The next day after that horrible night, Nick came into school and said that he was gay. It seemed weird. He was on the football team and his teammates didn't like that, I heard he got some really bad heat for it. Weird.

"I'm not too sure what I plan on doing." I told her honestly. "Probably just stay home like always."

She sighed, shaking her head. She opened her locker once again and pulled out a small wrapped box with a beautiful bow on the top. "Sorry I couldn't make it to your birthday. You know how my mom is. I got you this."

I took the little box from her and opened it up. I smiled as I looked down at the silver bracelet that she had gotten me. It was so beautiful, with the word best written on a little half heart charm. Tara lifted her own wrist and showed me the matching double with the word friend written on hers. I smiled.

"Friendship bracelets." I nodded. "Thank you so much, Tara. It's beautiful."

"I knew you liked silver so that is what I got you. I'm glad you like it." She leaned in and hugged me tightly for a moment. I returned the hug and then she helped me put on the bracelet. I watched the charm dangle for a minute before I smiled again.

"You know what. I plan on doing something tonight. I'm tired of always staying in the house." I told her quickly.

"There you go! Get out and do something! Do you want me to come hang out with you?" She asked.

My brows furrowed for a moment. "No, I think I am just going to go for a drive since I got my license finally." I chuckled.

"Alright, Sook. Be careful though, since there really are vampires in the world. I just want you to be safe."

"Oh, I don't think I have anything to worry about with vampires." I waved off her worries, but didn't explain any further.

After a few more moments the last bell finally rung and I was heading out to the parking lot. Putting the keys in the ignition, I started back to my home to get ready. I knew what I planned on doing and I was feeling a rush. It was something I had not felt before.

I wanted to live on the side of danger, just once in my life at least. A birthday present for myself, really. I wanted to go to a vampire bar that was having its opening night tonight. Yes, it might be dangerous since I'm not old enough to even go into a bar, but that is the worst that I could see happening. On the news they said that vampires weren't allowed to feed on humans in public places or unwillingly.

Jason had gotten me a fake I.D for a gag gift for Christmas this year. Gran almost had a heart attack and told Jason to throw it out, but he secretly hid it for me. He thought I would never have 'the balls' to use it. I was going to show him tonight! I do have 'the balls' to do it.

I sighed, thinking about the past as it swarmed back in. Jason lived with our parents when we were younger. I don't even remember them, they are mysteries to me. My whole life, I had lived with Gran, but Jason had stayed with mom and dad until they died. He was around five when they passed. I was always jealous when I was younger. I looked at the pictures of Jason, mom and dad and wondered why they didn't want me. Gran always said that they didn't have enough money to take care of both of us, so they asked her to take me. I really don't know much about them. It always seems like a touchy subject to Gran and Jason when I try to talk about them. So I don't anymore. I don't ask questions and just tell myself that Gran was more of my parent than my actual parents were. She was there for me since I was born. She is my real family.

It all seems odd though, because as I look at the pictures I can never tell which parent I look like. I had blue eyes like my dad, blond hair like my mom, but I didn't actually see similarities. I guess it isn't important. They died years ago when I was one.

I turned down Hummingbird Road and began to drive toward our house. I still had quite a few hours before I could even go to a vampire bar, but that was fine. It would give me time to pick out an outfit. I bit my lip as I scratched under the silver chained bracelet that Tara had given me. My wrist had gotten really itchy there since I had put it on. I didn't think anything about it after that because I noticed Jason had come over for a visit. After he graduated from high school, he moved into his own home. He wanted to be a man that supported himself, I guess.

His truck was sitting off to the side and I parked next to it. Getting out of the car, I grabbed my school bag and shut the car door behind me before bouncing up the stairs. I opened the door and stepped inside, slipping off my shoes as I did so.

"I'm home!" I called through the house.

Throwing my backpack on the couch I went into the kitchen where Jason and Gran were sitting. Jason had his mouth stuffed full of ham sandwich and Gran was sipping on some coffee.

"Hey Sook." Jason mumbled through bites.

"Hello dear, welcome home." Gran smiled, placing her cup on the table. "Are you hungry?"

"No, I'm fine." I told her, taking a seat on one of the vacant chairs. "Tara gave me this for my birthday."

"It's beautiful, dear." Gran smiled a bit more as she looked at it. She grabbed my wrist and brought it closer to her face for a moment. "Your skin is a bit red though."

"Yeah, I don't know what it is. It's alright though, the itching stopped." I promised. "So, I think I am going to go for a drive tonight." I threw it out there.

"A drive?" She asked, turning in her seat.

"Yeah, just drive around for a bit. Are you okay with that?"

Gran paused for just a moment and I was about to dip into her mind to see what she was thinking about when she smiled again. "Yes, you can do that as long as you're careful. You know the vampires had officially come out yesterday and not all vampires are good, you know."

I nodded. Gran had always seemed to know her fair share of vampires, so I knew I needed to promise that I would be careful…and I would be.

"I will be." I told her.

We moved into the living room after Jason was finished with his snack. Putting on the TV we watched something together. It was basically what our family time consisted of lately. After an hour or so, I hugged Jason and kissed Gran's cheek before I went upstairs. I needed to get a shower, find an outfit to wear and also find the makeup that Pam had gotten me a few months ago. She said I needed to do something with my face. I took it in a joking manner, because if I didn't I wouldn't have been able to say thank you in a kind enough way. Basically, I never used it. Tonight seemed like a good night to break it open.

I hopped in the shower and scrubbed my body, washed my hair good and made sure that I was absolutely clean before I had gotten out. I put my hair into a towel and wrapped the other one around my frame before I stepped out into the hall and walked to my room.

I decided that I would need to change in the car somewhere. If I went out in a pretty dress, Gran might start to wonder what I was really doing. I've never done this before, so I was taking much precaution. I threw on my fake outfit-jeans and a blue t-shirt-before I ran downstairs and got into the fridge to get something to eat. I looked at the clock, noticing it was nearing five in the afternoon. I guess I took a shower longer than I thought I had.

It was my turn to cook supper, so I picked something simple. I threw some hamburger in the frying pan and got out the box for Italian hamburger helper. Simple enough and it was done very quickly. I set the table while I was at it. Jason had already gone home for the night, saying that he needed to get up early or so Gran had told me. So it was just her and I tonight. I felt kind of selfish leaving her alone, but she always said I needed to get out more, so I was.

After eating and chatting for a bit longer, I scrubbed the dishes and washed my hands before I flew up the stairs at a fast pace again. The night was steadily growing on me and I wanted to be sure I at least made it to the bar tonight. I still had to pick out my real outfit for the bar.

I went into my closet and looked at all my dress selections. I sighed when I realized that I needed to at least update half of my clothes. There was a simple spaghetti strap black dress toward the back and I picked that one. I looked down at the black pumps Pam had gotten me for my birthday and I grinned. I did have a use for them after all.

I then had to search for not only my makeup, but the fake I.D as well. I searched everywhere and trust me, I had a lot of junk that I had no use for anymore. I decided then that Sunday would consist of me cleaning out my room, after church of course. Gran would kill me if I missed church. She would probably kill me for tonight if she knew. Mission one, don't let Gran know any of my plans. Mission two, find these flipping items!

I was half under my bed by the time that I found the items I was looking for. Of course, I should have looked here first. I always throw things under my bed. I sighed, sliding out from under there and standing up. I turned around to my closet, grabbing a bigger size purse that was on the shelf at the top.

I had no idea what to do with my hair then. I had a million ringlets of curls and my hair was actually very long, nearly passed the middle of my back by now. I decided to throw it up into a ponytail and let the curls hang down. Some of my hair was falling out in the front and I left them there. It added a pretty touch. I put some hairspray in the ponytail to make the curls stay the way they were, not to frizz and simply look pretty. I stepped back and smiled. I looked good for barely even trying.

I slipped on my strapless bra, the only one that I had and then threw my blue shirt back over top. After I saw that I had everything I needed I headed down the stairs at a slow pace. I looked in my wallet, making sure I had the money I saved from babysitting in there. I threw my wallet in my overstuffed bag and headed to the door.

"No, no. There is no reason to alert him. Just follow…yes. Exactly. Have a nice night." Gran's conversation ended quickly when she saw me head to the door.

"Who were you talking to this late?" I wiggled my eyebrows and she giggled.

"Never you mind, young lady." She waved her hand at me. I watched as she stood and walked over to me, grabbing my hands in hers. "Be careful tonight, Sookie. Promise me."

"I promise, Gran." I squeezed her hands in my own and kissed her cheek. "Love you. I won't be back too late."

"You better not. You're still living under my roof. You be back by eleven-thirty." She spoke sternly.

I nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

After that I was down in my beat up car and driving away. I was golden, free for tonight to do whatever it was that I wanted and what I wanted was to go to a certain bar called Fangtasia.

Shreveport wasn't too far away, about a forty-five minute drive from Bon Temps. When I was halfway there, I pulled over and got into my bag. It was quite a hassle to get changed within a very small vehicle. I bumped my head on the roof at least eight times in the attempt to get the dress down passed by butt. Putting on the shoes was an even harder task as I tried to lay back on the very small back seats my car has to offer. I lifted my leg in the air to put the left heel on and nearly poked my eye out with the heel itself as I tried to lift it. Then came the makeup and the light inside of my car kept flicking off and on. I had to be careful as I looked in the mirror trying to get it right. I guess it came out okay, I looked good at least. It wasn't anything fabulous, but simple and I liked that.

I was successful after spending another twenty minutes trying to do everything. Finally, I was done and heading further toward my destination. I was totally hyped up, trembling with excitement. I was about to break some hidden rule and it was not like me. That is why I enjoyed it because it wasn't me. I felt closer to knowing who I was than I had ever had before. I guess I just like the dark side.

I chuckled as I parked; shaking my head out of thinking I was some kind of villain twirling a curly mustache as I plotted an evil plan. I looked into the small mirror to make sure that my hair was still looking good and once I was satisfied, I got out of the car, clutching my much smaller purse I had also brought.

I put my wallet and fake I.D in that purse and then held it in my hands as I stepped around the corner and looked to the bar. It was nothing big, but it sure had a lot of attention. Fangtasia was written in crimson red neon sign at the top. But the building itself wasn't what caught me off guard; it was the massive line that nearly hooked around the block down the road. Well, this sucked. I didn't think I was going to get in tonight.

I was about to just forget it all when I looked up to notice that no other than Pam was standing outside of the building, barking something at one of the humans. Before I knew what I was doing, I was running across the street to stand next to her. I forgot everything, forgot that she knew who I was, forgot that she knew my age.

"I'm beginning to hate it when some slutty, pretty girl thinks she can cut the line…" Pam looked at me. Her eyes narrowed for just a moment before they opened slightly wider. Her eyebrow rose. "Sookie?"

I blushed. "Yeah, it's me."

"You look…nice?" She made it into a question and I could tell she was confused. For the first time since as long as I remembered, she was confused.

I opened my mouth, getting ready to tell her I would just be heading home now, when she pulled my arm and turned us around. She walked a few paces away from the building and leaned down into my ear.

"Sookie, what are you doing here? You are not even old enough to be at a bar. Yes, we serve alcohol here for humans."

"I didn't know it was you that was going to work here." I told her honestly.

"So you were hoping that someone else was so they would let you in?" She asked, smirking now.

I bit my lip. "I really…don't know."

She paused for just a moment. "No one came with you?" Her voice seemed to take on an annoyed tone, one that I didn't understand.

"No, I am eighteen after all. I am old enough to go out by myself." I shuffled on my feet.

"That is not the poin-" She stopped herself. My brows fell in confusion. "Well, you can't just be out here by yourself. Go on in, I will find someone else to take over my outdoor shift and sit with you, but then I shall take you home."

"Pam, you really don't need to…" She cut me off.

"Oh, yes…yes I do." She sighed. "Go in, but don't you dare try to order a drink. Eric would kill me."

"Is Eric here?" I asked.

Pam opened her mouth to answer, but noticed someone trying to cut in line. "You move any closer, I will bite your finger off mongrel." She growled and the guy stepped back slightly. He smiled after a moment. "They like that talk." She rolled her eyes.

I didn't wait around for an answer that I doubted I would receive. I turned and opened the door. Walking inside, I was enveloped into a mood that I have never felt before. Hypnotic music played from the speakers, people were ordering drinks. There was also girls dancing on poles, exotic dancers it seemed, but there was a difference. They weren't just women, they were vampire women. Their fangs were out as they moved too fast for my eyes to catch up at times. I smiled as the one girl looked at me, she winked.

I blinked and shook my head. They were beautiful women, but there were also some beautiful men here too, of course, not as handsome as one vampire that I know. I looked up front, seeing that vampire as he stood from a throne like chair.

Eric pushed his long hair back and off of his shoulders as he stood. There was a very petite woman standing next to him, a beautiful woman at that. I was guessing she was a waitress here. Her hair was long and brown, full and wavy. Her face was thin and beautiful, her eyes sparkled with excitement. Even from here I could see that and even from where I was standing, I didn't like the way she was looking at Eric.

To my surprise, Eric began to move to the back part of the bar and the woman followed. I bit my lip as my heart raced in my chest. I tapped into her mind, carefully zoning in on only her and pushing everyone else out.

_Oh wow! A real vampire and he's hot! I want him to bite me so badly! I want him to fuck-_

I snapped out, closing all barriers. I surely got enough of what she wanted from Eric. I stood there frozen for a moment, my hand trembling as I watched them disappear behind a wall. A few minutes ticked by and I was still looking at the same place they departed from.

Carefully, because I knew I couldn't resist going, I stepped over into that direction. No one was watching me, that I knew of and I really could care less anyway. That woman…she was…was…trying to get with Eric. I didn't like it in the slightest.

I turned the corner, noticing that it led down a hallway with a few doors. I bit my lip as I scratched my wrist once more. It got really itchy once again a few minutes before I made it to the bar. Without looking, I scratched and stepped forward. I let my hand fall back down at my side as I continued toward the back door. There was slight moaning from the other side and my heart was in my throat now as I stood outside the door.

I really shouldn't go in, I really shouldn't, but something inside of me was possessing me to keep moving forward. I grabbed the doorknob and twisted it. There was a clicking and the door came creaking open. All too soon there was a gasp and a growl as Eric turned his head around.

I gasped too, noticing that his fangs were out; blood was dripping down his lips. He was still fully clothed and so was the girl as much of her as I could see. I stood their panting heavily, wondering if I should be thankful or nervous of when I walked in.

"Sookie?" Eric whispered.

His hair was in a ponytail now, the way I usually like it. Slight strands of hair were falling down in front of his face and if I had to be honest, he looked so much more beautiful right now. That frightened me. He looked more beautiful with his fangs glistening with blood? Blood as it ran down his chin?

I scratched my wrist again, shuffling on my feet as I stood there. Eric turned the full way around now, taking a step toward me.

"Sookie?" He asked again, holding out his hand this time. "I won't hurt you."

"You know this chick?" The woman's voice was snippy, but he paid her no mind.

His tongue darted out to collect the blood that was lost and I was drawn to the act. My eyes were trained to the blood as it was collected on his tongue. The sound of it as it was brought into his mouth.

_Delicious…_

A voice echoed in my mind. I blinked slightly as I listened because it wasn't like I was listening to anyone else's thoughts. It sounded like my very own voice.

_Devine…_

My eyes drifted passed Eric as the girl sat up on his desk. Her neck had a trail of blood, flowing down upon the top of her breast and continuing down between the valley under her shirt. The punctured holes from where Eric's fangs sunk in were still bleeding and when I looked closer, I could see her neck moving slightly. Her heart was beating fast, it seemed.

_Tantalizing…is it not?_

I felt hands against my shoulders now, breaking me out of a trance that I seemed to have been under. I shook my head, looking up into Eric's blue eyes as he looked down to mine in confusion. I blinked once more, forgetting what I was just doing. What just happened anyway?

"Sookie, what are you doing here?" Eric asked a bit more strongly as if he was upset. I noticed that his fangs were no longer down.

"You forgot…my birthday." I whispered.

It was the only thing that popped into my mind, the only thing that slipped from my mouth. My eyes grew sad as I looked down at my feet. I heard Eric sigh and snap his fingers. The woman Eric was feeding on got up from the desk and moved around us and out the door.

"You seemed to not have heard me a few moments ago." He said as he guided me to the couch. "Can you tell me why?"

I stayed silent. I don't remember what happened a few moments ago. I heard Eric's voice, but I couldn't remember anything else. That is odd and quite frightening.

"Were you shocked…at what you walked in on, Sookie?" Eric's voice grew softer. I felt his hand fall to mine, patting it, but I reached out and grabbed his hand without thinking. I didn't meet his gaze, but looked down at the carpet. I didn't let go of his hand either. "I'm sorry you had to witness that, then if it was that much of a shock to you." He said even more softly. "But that is the way of life for a vampire and I told you that it isn't easy."

I nodded, feeling incredibly stupid for even coming here tonight. "I'm sorry for disturbing you. I should go home now." I began to stand, not wanting to feel any more embarrassed about what I interrupted. To be truthful, it still stung because I care for Eric. I knew I did. Was it a crush? I think it is more than that, really.

Before I could fully stand, his hand gripped mine tighter. "Wait."

My heart beat harder in my chest as he pulled me back down on the couch. "W-What is it?"

"You know, we will be having a talk about this, right?" He said, once again going to his normal tone. I frowned and rolled my eyes before nodding. "I've been very busy the past few days, which is why I couldn't come yesterday. I had to help out with many things for the Revelation."

"Eric, it's fine. It's just a silly birthday, it's okay if you forgot. I don't even know why I said that." I told him, a blush rising on my cheeks.

His finger came under my chin, turning my head to make me look at him. His blue eyes settled on mine and I gulped at how close we seemed to be right now. "It does matter because you always expect me to come over every year for your birthday. It was something you were looking forward to and I am sorry that I couldn't make it." He told me carefully. "But I did not forget."

Before I could move, he was standing and heading over to his desk. He leaned down and grabbed something from the one drawer. Eric strode back over to me and sat exactly where he was just a few seconds ago.

"Hold out your hand." Eric said.

I did as I was told, holding out my hand in slight confusion as to what he was doing. Slowly, he held out his hand and opened it slightly. A thin chain fell, grazing against the palm of my hand. My eyes widened slightly as he put the necklace within my hand. He had never gotten me a present before.

I looked down at the necklace lying in my palm. It was a cross necklace with diamonds and rubies encrusted within the cross. I smiled brightly.

"It is white gold and those are real diamonds and rubies, so keep it safe." He told me.

"It's beautiful, Eric. Thank you." I whispered.

"Turning eighteen is a big thing, or so I have heard." He smirked.

Before I could stop myself, my arms went around his neck and I pulled him in for a hug. I leaned my head against his shoulder. He was stiff for a moment before he relaxed. His one hand lay on my back and the other hand went up to hold my head. He hugged me back gently.

"Happy belated Birthday, Sookie." He said as he released me.

I pulled my arms back, but Eric grabbed my one wrist. His smirk whipped off of his face as he looked down at the bracelet I was wearing. He was about to touch it.

"Eric, don't! It's silver." I explained.

"I knew it was." He turned around and grabbed a cloth from the edge of his desk. I watched as he pulled the bracelet back slightly. I winced from the pain.

"It didn't hurt before, but it itched." I told him.

He didn't say anything as he unclasped the bracelet from my wrist and sat it on his desk. "Don't wear that." He finally spoke.

"Why? My best friend got it for me for my birthday." I told him.

"I think you're allergic to silver, Sookie." He said, but his voice sounded slightly off. I watched him run his hand through his hair.

"I wasn't allergic to it before." I pushed.

"Just…don't wear it. Alright?" Eric turned to look at me then and his blue eyes showed…concern? Is that what I was looking at?

"Okay. I won't." I promised. "But I'm not throwing it away. It was a gift."

"Just be careful with it." He told me. "Come on, I should take you home now."

"Can you put on my necklace first?" I asked, standing up.

"Turn around." He said after I handed it to him.

His arms came around my head as he put the necklace into place. I closed my eyes as his cool fingers brushed against my neck, moving my hair out of the way. It all ended too soon, much too soon. The necklace was in place and I was being ushered from the bar. There was a back entrance and Eric took that way.

When we made it to the door, I noticed Pam. She was coming in, whipping blood from her mouth. At first she had a smirk on her face, until she saw who was right behind me. That smirk totally disappeared.

"I'm guessing she interrupted you?" Pam asked. "I was trying to come back in, so that wouldn't happen. I got distracted by this lovely woman." Pam said as she turned around, pushing the woman back through the small hallway and into the main bar area.

"I'm going to kill you." Eric said.

"Pun intended? Since you know…you already did that?" Pam's snarky attitude, you got to love it. I giggled and Eric put his hand on my back to push me out of the bar completely.

"Where's your car?" He asked as we moved.

"That way." I pointed. "So, I'm guessing you own the bar?"

"I do own it." He told me as we continued down the sidewalk. He took a detoured path, I wasn't quite sure why he would have done that, but I didn't voice it.

"You don't seem to be very excited about it." I grumbled.

"It is just another thing I have to worry about, Sookie. I have a lot of things like that." He eyed me carefully.

"So, I'm guessing you're still mad at me."

"You snuck into a bar and you are not even old enough yet to be in a bar in this country. Not to mention that it is a vampire bar at that. It is dangerous."

"For one, I did not sneak. Pam told me to go in." I said. "And dangerous?" I scoffed. "I'm nothin' special, so no one would even care less about little old me."

"You would be surprised. Problem is that younger vampires could and would try to take you somewhere and drain you dry if you don't watch yourself in these kinds of places. And you didn't watch. You were careless."

"I understand." I rolled my eyes.

"You don't care whatsoever, do you?" He asked.

"Care about what?" I challenged.

"That something serious could happen to you. You are special, you have that gift and you know which one I am talking about." He tapped his head. "Your blood even smells sweeter, Sookie. Vampires are probably wondering who that scent was coming from in the bar. If you are not careful, then something could happen to you. You came alone as well." He sighed. "What if it wasn't my bar? What if Pam and I weren't even there?"

I sighed, frowning. "I didn't think about it like that. I-I'm sorry."

Eric sighed too, opening the passenger car door for me. "Just be careful. And I need to have a talk with a few certain people."

"Who do you mean?" I asked.

"No one in particular." He answered, getting in the car himself. "Now, let's just forget about it. Can't change what was already done."

I nodded and smiled. "Thanks for the necklace again."

A slight smirk lifted on his lips. "You're welcome."

Eric always looked hilarious in my car, because he was absolutely too big for it. Once we were on the road again, he reached into his pocket, pulling out the bracelet. I noticed that the hand he put in his pocket was gloved, probably for only that specific reason. He could have just told me to grab it before we left.

I sighed, leaning back in the passenger seat more and relaxing. I didn't want to think about anything that happened, there would always be more time tomorrow. Right now, I just wanted to sit in silence with Eric because it was really peaceful.

I closed my eyes and gripped the cross necklace in my hand. I smiled.

_Eric does care about me, doesn't he?_


	5. You and I

**Author's Notes:** Hello dear readers!

I hope you are all well! I am doing much better and tonight is going to be very busy for me, since I will be trying to update three stories. This one, possibly Beautifully Undead and the co-writing story I am writing as well. Such a long day!

Here is the next chapter to Duality and I hope you enjoy it! Yay!

I own nothing, nada, zip, zilch! Really. :D

XOXO-SharaMoon

* * *

><p><strong>Eric's POV:<strong>

"Sookie?" I shook her shoulder.

"Hmm?" She mumbled through her sleep.

"You're home now." I answered.

One thing I knew about Sookie was that she could sleep through practically anything. Since all she did was turn her head in my direction and mumble, I knew that she wouldn't wake up even if I shook her further.

I sighed, got out of the car and walked to her door. I picked her up carefully, making sure I didn't jostle her too much. Even if she can sleep through almost anything, I didn't want her to be uncomfortable in my arms. Turning around to the house, I noticed Adele standing on the porch with her arms crossed.

"I'm guessing the newer Were on the case couldn't keep up with her?" Adele asked.

"I have no idea. She came to the bar alone." I nearly growled out of frustration.

Sookie had no idea what she was, which meant that tonight could have ended a lot worse. She could sleep peacefully, while I wouldn't have that luxury come sunrise. I needed to check out all the vampires and see if they got a whiff of her scent, if they were wondering what she was, even if they didn't know who it came from.

"What?" Adele's voice rose. "Excuse me, Eric, but I believe you just said my granddaughter went to a vampire bar?"

She began to descend the stairs and I was sure she was going to try to wake Sookie. I took a step back, my grip tightening on the girl in my arms. Possessiveness of Sookie rose up in my throat as this old woman stepped closer. No, she didn't need to be yelled at.

"You are not her real grandmother, Adele."

"Hell if I'm not, Eric! I've taken care of her since she was born. She promised me she would be careful tonight and you can bet your vampire ass that she will hear from me sooner or later!"

I sighed. "Not tonight." I said simply as I looked down at the girl in my grasp.

Adele stopped and sighed heavily. "Since the Were was much younger, I thought he would be able to keep track of her." Adele shook her head.

"What is the name of this Were, I will be talking to him tomorrow night." I asked.

"Alcide Herveaux. He's in his early twenties, I believe."

I nodded. "She has had a hard night." I stepped passed Adele and headed toward the house.

"What do you mean?" She asked when we stepped inside.

"I believe some of her vampire qualities are coming out." I answered, heading up the stairs.

Adele didn't follow me, since she had a harder time walking up the stairs at her age now. That was fine, since I was carrying Sookie myself. I slung her closer to reach for the door handle and Sookie sighed. Her warm breath ran across my neck and I closed my eyes momentarily. She was so warm at times.

Once inside, I laid her on her bed and knelt beside her. I wanted to get the silver bracelet out of her pocket for good measure. I leaned in, lifting her shirt slightly to push my fingers into the pocket. As I did so, Sookie twitched and I nearly chuckled. When I pulled my hand away, Sookie groaned and rolled over.

I stood there for a moment before pushing her bangs out of her face. She looked pale again and I knew she would be getting sick if she didn't have blood. I thought it over for a moment, how she acted in the bar when she caught me feeding.

At first, I thought she was just sad and hurt, but I wasn't getting that emotion off of her. She was drawn to the blood and she didn't even know it. The only way to calm that is to give her blood…and a lot more than I usually give her.

I give her a few drops of blood every few months, but since she was so enticed just by the sight of it, I knew I needed to act quickly. I was sure her vampire side would beg for blood, need that blood and I was sure it would do anything to get that, even if it was still hidden.

I walked downstairs quickly, going to the kitchen right away. Adele sat at the table, watching me as I opened the fridge and grabbed the orange juice off the shelf. I stepped back, grabbing a glass from the cabinet before setting both items on the table.

"What vampire qualities were you talking about?" Adele asked, sipping her coffee.

"Why do you want to know? Are you afraid of what she will become?" I asked. I couldn't help it. The way Adele was sitting stiff got me thinking.

"Yes, I'm afraid." She whispered. "But I'm not afraid of her. Sookie is my grandchild, even if it isn't from my true kin. I am afraid that this will cause her so much trouble, that something could happen because of it."

"That is why I'm here. To guard and protect her, the best I can. She will change, Adele. Sooner or later the Sookie we know will be different. We don't know what will happen, what kind of powers she will possess. Until the day she…_turns_, we will have no idea. She is already showing traits as I have said. She is becoming allergic to silver and she was drawn to blood because she witnessed me feeding tonight."

"Do you think it will be happening much sooner? Her turning, I mean."

I paused for a moment. "The witch never said when some traits will begin to manifest themselves, but she gave us an age on when Sookie could possibly turn. Twenty-two she said. Though, she wasn't entirely sure. She could have been wrong and it is leading me to believe that she was in fact wrong."

"How so?" Adele sighed, rubbing her forehead.

"The witch said that Sookie would not feel the draw to blood, but tonight she had. Of course, she had gotten sick before and needed blood, but it wasn't like that. The way her eyes glazed over, she was drawn to the blood like any vampire would be, though she didn't act on it. She also doesn't remember what had happened."

"Do you at least hope the witch was right on the age?" Adele whispered.

"Truthfully, I hope Sookie wouldn't have to deal with this regardless, but that isn't going to happen and we cannot pretend otherwise. No matter the age, her vampire side is starting to fight against the spell. I am sure of it. It's only a matter of time until the darkness in Sookie will break free."

That was the end of the conversation and Adele sat there as I poured orange juice in the glass and then bit into my own wrist. She didn't ask why I was putting so much into the cup, but I was sure she was thinking about it.

I tilted my wrist further, letting the blood run from my wrist and into the cup. It swirled together, giving it a different color, but it was dark in the house and I was sure that Sookie wouldn't think about it once I gave it to her.

I let my wrist heal before I moved. Grabbing a napkin, I wiped off the blood from the top of the glass where it splashed and ran down the side. I threw it away before I backed out of the kitchen. Adele followed of course, heading down the hall into her bedroom.

"Once you are gone for the night, lock up the house." Adele waved and entered her bedroom.

It was quite odd to see her act so calmly around me, like it didn't even matter that I was a vampire. I knew I snapped at her quite a few times tonight and truthfully, I could only be vaguely aware of why I did that. I knew I was becoming possessive toward Sookie, but I have always been that way, haven't I?

I didn't give it much more thought as I reached into my pocket and pulled out my cellphone. I wanted to alert Niall of the changes today.

"She is becoming allergic to silver and she is drawn to blood." I spoke quickly and quietly as I walked up the stairs.

"_Hmm. That is a new change I could have waited about to hear."_ He sighed. _"How bad is it?"_

"I'm not quite sure as of yet, but I will keep looking over it more. I am giving Sookie more blood than I usually do, in hopes to quiet her vampire within."

"_That is good news then. Thank you, Eric."_

"Niall, I wanted to talk about telling Sookie that she is-" He cut me off.

"_We can't, Eric. You and I both know that could be hazardous."_

"Either way this could end badly, Niall." I growled into the phone. "Don't you think she deserves to know?"

"_Of course I do."_ He argued back. _"But it is dangerous for her to know. One simple word and it could slip from her mouth at one point. Eric, I think it is best to keep this within our knowledge for just a few more years. We need to monitor her growth before we can do anything, you know this. We cannot rush, regardless if this might be the better choice. I want to protect my grandchild, even from herself and I know you feel the same. If we do tell her, then I am afraid that could lead to more trouble than just keeping her hidden in the dark."_

"Yeah, I got it." I said shortly.

"_I'm sorry, Eric. This is hurting me more than I could possibly tell you, but until we know more I don't want to jeopardize her life. As of right now, you are keeping her hidden. You are keeping her safe and we don't want to disrupt that."_

"You should know about the bar-" Again he cut me off.

"_Yes, I already know. Pam called me a bit earlier. She said some vampires seemed intrigued by the scent that was in the building, but none of them knew where it came from."_

"She just called you?" I asked.

"_Yes, just a few moments before you."_

"I have to go."

I shut the phone before he could say anymore. I heard Sookie begin to stir just inside the doorway from where I was standing. She groaned as she stretched and I waited for her to notice me.

"You haven't left yet?" She whispered.

"We haven't been here long. We just got here a little bit ago." I stepped through the door and came to her side. Putting my knee against the bed, I moved toward her with the glass in hand. "Here, drink this."

"I'm not very thirsty." She waved her hand.

"You will be once you take the first drink." I said softly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She chuckled roughly.

"You sometimes don't know when you are thirsty, Sookie. It was pretty obvious." I said after thinking a moment of a good answer to what I just said.

She shrugged and grabbed the glass from my hands. "I think I would know if I was thirsty, Eric." She put the glass to her mouth and took a swig. I watched as she pulled back and swallowed, looking at the glass. She licked her lips softly and I gazed at the act. I could see clearly in the dark, so I noticed the blood that was mixed in with the orange juice. Some of it dribbled down her chin. Sookie turned to look at me, a blush forming on her lips. "I guess…I am thirsty." And with that, the glass was back at her lips.

"I told you so." I whispered as she chugged the remaining juice and blood concoction down her throat.

"Mmm. That was good." She said, handing me back the glass.

I nodded. "Get some rest, Sookie. I will see you tomorrow night."

"You're leaving?" She asked.

I could feel her sadness so quickly after drinking much more of my blood than she usually does. She was disappointed, but she knew that I needed to go. She was trying to hide from herself, hide those feelings that I knew she had for me, but the simple fact was…she would never be able to lie to me without me knowing until I stopped giving her my liquid life essence.

"I bet you have to get back to the bar. It's alright, go on and enjoy your night, Eric." She smiled softly, but it was one of the biggest lies she has ever told me.

Before I knew it, I sighed and settled next to her on the bed. "Just go to sleep, alright. I will stay with you until you do."

"T-Thank you." Her voice was so soft, held with so much emotion. I was sure she did not even see that she was an open book right now.

"Don't mention it, Sookie." I whispered. "Just get some rest."

She settled closer to me, putting her hand over my stomach like she usually does when we end up in this kind of situation. I watched as she closed her eyes and smiled gently. I knew that she was a woman now, that if I truly wanted I could take her for my own and she would be more than happy if I did. I simply didn't know if I could. I've seen her grow, took care of her since she was just a child. How could I look passed all of that? It is still weird to me to know that she grew into this woman from the child I swore to protect. Besides, I wasn't one to fall in love, but I knew what I felt for Sookie was special. I wasn't that solid to ignore that I_ knew_ she was special to _me_.

As I watched her breathing become slower, I thought over her life. Sookie was very close to my heart, more so than most people. The only other person that was this close to me was Pam. Yes, I knew Sookie was important to me, but I didn't know what that meant, where it left me standing. All I knew was that I needed to protect her. Not just because I promised, but because I absolutely wanted to. I felt the need to do so, to protect someone very close to my heart, even if I didn't understand the connection we shared. That was all there was too it, all I could allow right now.

I slipped from her grasp and walked out the door and down the steps. I did as Adele asked and locked the door right before I left.

* * *

><p><strong>Sookie's POV:<strong>

"You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen." His voice erupted in my left ear. His breath tickled my neck as he leaned over and kissed my throat.

"Am I really?" I challenged, leaning up slightly to get a better look at him.

A devilish smirk played on his features as he towered over me. His hands caught my wrists and pushed them over my head, before shifting and pinning them together with only one of his hands. I watched as his nose grazed down the middle of my chest, over my ribs and then resting by my naval. He then lifted the shirt I was wearing to place a kiss right on my belly button.

"You truly are, Sookie." His voice whispered in the night, a soft sigh escaped his lips once more. "Is this what you want from me?"

"I-I want you to tell me how you truly feel about me. That I am not the only one who feels this…connection."

His blue eyes grazed up to meet mine, holding so much emotion that I could barely take it. "I am in love with you."

The room began to lighten dramatically, like the sun had come out. I looked at the person lying squarely above me, afraid that he would burst into flames, but he was no longer there. I reached up to grab at what was once him.

"Eric?" I whispered.

"You realize that was just a dream, correct?" A voice entered my ears now. It was quite weird to hear, because it was though I was talking to myself.

Cupping my hand above my eyes, I looked out into the light, noticing a figure standing there. A figure of a woman. Slowly she began to walk toward me, one foot at a time. Small steps until she came into my view. I squinted to get a good look at her face.

I gasped wildly as she held out her hand, but what caught me off guard was that this woman looked exactly like me. I wasn't looking at myself through a mirror. I was looking at myself, a double of myself. Except there were differences, ones that were subtle, but I could tell.

"Who are you?" I asked, my voice rising slightly higher.

The woman smirked slightly. "I am you and you are me."

"That…doesn't make sense." I whispered. "I'm dreaming…like you said."

"What I walked in on before was your dream, but this is not one. It's more of a subconscious state that you are in. You are within yourself, seeing below of what no one else can see. Not even to yourself."

"What does that mean?" I asked, trembling slightly from the words that she spoke.

"You don't know who you are." She answered. "You are lonely, but not the lonely that you know of. It isn't about not having friends or even company. What I just saw with that…man meant you weren't lonely in that sense. I see that is what you dream of, what you hope to be. But, I am getting off subject now. The lonely I am talking about, the loneliness you feel is because you are different. One of a kind, always to be lonely."

My lips trembled. Tears threatened to spill over. "I'm not…lonely. I'm like everyone else."

She turned sad eyes to me. "No, you are not like everyone else. You and I are special."

"Who are you?" I asked again.

"I am you and you are me. We are one in the same. I am merely the part of you that is of the dark."

"What _are_ you?" I changed the question.

She smirked again.

In a blur of light everything had gone dark. Wind began to blow passed me quickly, blowing my hair behind my back as it danced in the wind. I could no longer see in the now darkened room and it frightened me. My chest heaved. My heart beat faster.

Far off in the distance a light began to shine; simple light that created a pathway to what seemed to be a darkened hallway. My instincts screamed for me not to go, but my feet carried me anyway down the long path. My heart thundered in my chest, beating so wildly that I thought it would rip open.

Still my feet carried me until I was standing at a door; an old looking door that seemed to be attached by rocks, hidden from everyone else. I was no longer standing in a hallway or even a room, but I was now in a forest, staring at a hidden door that was surrounded by what looked to be a cave.

I opened the door and a sound of crying came through. It wasn't a normal cry. It was as if something was happening. It was a woman's voice that was groaning and crying out in pain.

"Push!" I heard another voice and it stopped me at the top ledge.

There was rain now, coming down from the heaven above, but it was not touching my skin. I looked up at the once sunny day that was now dark as night, dark clouds threw rain upon the ground in a heavy downpour. Off in the distance, slightly behind a cloud was a red moon. It was something that I have never seen before.

"Follow me." The voice that sounded much like my own echoed in my ears.

I looked down to woman at the bottom of the stairs. The woman that believed we were one in the same stood there with her hand held out for my own. I took the remaining steps it took before I stood in a rounded room. It looked like a dungeon. Stone walls with hundreds of candles were everywhere. I took one last step to reach my hand out and the woman who looked like me seemed to vanish before my very eyes.

I reached out further, trying to grip onto her, but she was gone. I was now in a room with a bunch of cloaked figures. Their faces were shrouded by the hoods that masked their faces away and they were all looking upon something, something in the middle. I tried to make my way through, trying to get to the woman that was in obvious pain, the one that was crying in pain, but it was no use. I couldn't move any further.

One of the cloaked figures shifted then and I saw the woman, panting and sweating. She was lying upon the floor, with someone sitting behind her. I cocked my head to the side as she cried once more. Her voice hurt me so much. I didn't want her to cry, to be in pain. I didn't even know this woman and yet, something told me that I knew her very well. My heart was beating so fast now, slamming against my chest trying to break free.

I reached my hand out to the woman that I couldn't see clearly. I wanted to touch her, to tell her that I was there. The room shifted then and all the people that were there disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The crying of the woman stopped, the cloaked figures vanished.

Just then I gasped, crying out myself as I clutched my heart. Shooting pain ran through me, such horrible pain. I could feel the heavy beats of my heart. It was erratic, stopping every so often. I was sure it was going to give out on me and I fell to the floor in a heap. One beat. That is all I felt every few seconds.

My hand that wasn't clutching my heart was clutching the floor as I tried to breathe what felt to be my last breath. My eyes opened wide as tears streamed down my face.

"Does it hurt?" Her voice was back, my voice. My head snapped up to look at her as she crouched before me. "The pain you are feeling feels like you are dying. Your heart is beating heavily, one beat every once in a while. Your breath is coming out in pants, as you try to suck enough air into your lungs to survive." Her hand cradled my face and she leaned in, her lips only centimeters away from my own. "You wanted to know what I am and I will show you."

Her hand cradled my head and I felt lifeless. I looked up to her in pleading. Asking her to get me some help, any kind of help. She only smiled and leaned in to my ear. "What I am is _death_." She told me slowly. My eyes trembled as tears just slipped from them.

She leaned back for a moment and I watched as fangs began to slide out, but before I could do anything, her mouth was attached to my throat and she was drinking from me. I cried out, trying to push her away, but there was nothing there, nothing to grab onto. It was as if she was a ghost. She pulled back, sighing in happiness. I watched as she turned her head and looked at me once more. Blood dripped from her lips and she smiled, showing me bloody fangs. "I am you and you are me. I am the part of you that is of darkness. It will still be quite some time until you learn, my dearest part of me, but I will tell you this: I am death. I am _your _death."


	6. Sook is different than Sookie

**Author's Notes:** Hello again readers!

This chapter is possibly going to confuse you. Just go with it. Basically this is a chapter between Eric and Sookie's vampire side that I have called; Sook. Easiest way to realize that I am talking about Sookie's other half. I hope it doesn't going to confuse you too badly.

I own nothing, nada, zip, zilch!

XOXO-SharaMoon

* * *

><p><strong>Sookie's POV:<strong>

Grabbing the sheets, I bolted upright in my bed. My hand flew up to my heart as I sat in the still dark room. It was too dark, much too dark. Touching the floor, I walked downstairs and out the front door where I sat on the porch steps. My hands wouldn't stop shaking, my body wouldn't stop trembling.

"You're quite the bit of trouble sometimes." His voice scared me.

I shrieked as I flew to my feet, holding my hands out in front of me. I heard him chuckle before he came closer.

"Eric?" I whispered.

I nearly flushed when his beautiful face became suddenly clear, the clouds moved over head, bringing the moon out once more. His blue eyes sparkled in the night as he stared in my direction. He swayed slightly when he walked with his arms behind his back. His hair in a messy ponytail; such long hair he had.

"You knew it was me before you…freaked out." He commented, stepping to my side.

"Am I still dreaming?" I questioned.

That made Eric stop. His eyebrows drew up high. "What did you dream about?"

My eyes almost popped out of my head and I turned as my face began to burn. What did I dream about? I had quite a few dreams just a bit ago, but the first one…well…

_I am in love with you._

I trembled as heat began to sear in the lower regions of my stomach, butterflies took flight. I swallowed hard and shook my head, realizing that I was acting this way in front of him and that alone was making it more obvious. No, he couldn't know, right?

All that came crashing down when the other image of myself shone in front of my closed eyes. I opened them quickly, wanting to fight away that part of my dream, the one that scared me to death. That was the thing though, it was only a dream. It had to be because I was at the vampire bar, Fangtasia tonight. I guess that stuck with me, seeing all those vampires my subconscious made it into something else, making me into a vampire. That was the only likely reason I could think of.

"Sookie?" Eric was much closer now and I felt his hand rest on my back, between my shoulder blades.

"J-Just a scary dream that I had is all." I waved off the concern in his voice.

"I felt…" He started before stopping.

I looked at him. "What?"

"Nothing, Sookie. Tell me what you dreamed about." He turned me slowly, making me face him.

"Just..." I sighed. "I had a dream that I was a vampire. It wasn't just that though. There…there was two of me. Well, me and this other girl that looked like me. I don't know how to explain it right. It's all confusing. I think it was because I came to your bar and the vampire aspect of it all stuck with me."

Eric stayed quiet as he looked into my eyes. Not once did he blink as he gazed deeply and for a moment, I thought he was going to kiss me with the way he was watching my every move. He was that close, so very close that I could just reach up and…and…

"I want to try something, Sookie." He announced, taking a step back. "Don't think anything of it, alright?"

"W-What do you mean?" I whispered, watching him back away slightly.

"Trust me." He said.

I nodded and brought my left hand up to rub my shoulder. It was getting colder outside, or maybe that was just me, I wasn't sure. Eric grabbed my wrist and swiped something sharp against the skin on my palm, so quickly that I didn't know what happened. I gasped as I saw blood beginning to ooze from the deep wound he had caused. It was all I could see, blood, blood, blood. My blood.

"Kom." Eric spoke in a different language, one that I heard before.

I wanted to stop looking at the crimson substance, but everything seemed to go black and I had the feeling that I was falling.

* * *

><p><strong>Eric's POV:<strong>

I reached out, grabbing Sookie before she could hit the ground. I had a reason I wanted to do this, just one simple reason. I knew what was going on here, what she dreamed about because it wasn't a dream. I gripped her shoulders as her body temperature dropped very low, much like a vampires. Her skin began to pale, but not as much as a normal vampire would. Her heart beat faded until I could barely hear it anymore.

"Sookie?" I said gently, reaching up to push back her hair.

A slight chuckle came from her throat, a very light, amused laugh. "Eric, Eric, Eric. The Sookie you know is no longer here with us at the moment and you know that. But what I was wondering is why you called for me."

"Called for you?" I asked, taking a step back when she stood up straight.

Everything was the same. Sookie still looked like she normally did, except her eyes seemed to show more intelligence. Like she knew more than what Sookie would really know, which was true. This woman was the part of Sookie that was locked away.

"Yes, you're the only one that can bring me out. We've had a bond since I was born, since that first moment you gave me your blood to test out my skills."

"I'm the only one that can do this?" I questioned. I wanted to know everything that she knew. Stepping to the side to watch her, I made sure that she didn't run when she was free.

"But of course, Eric. We are connected on a level no one else can understand. It is the reason why you can't walk away from the girl that knows nothing of her past. I've been there, watching, seeing and knowing everything that happens. I have Sookie's memories, her life and her other needs. I am the part of her that absorbs most of the bond we share. You are the only one that could have brought me out so early after the witch cast that spell so many years ago. Your subconscious knew that and you used it to bring me out."

"You remember this? That woman?" I circled her.

"No, I don't remember clearly. I was, after all, just a newborn child though smarter and more in tune with what was going on around me. I've pieced it together over the years. Since I have had so much time to do that, being stuck deep within my own soul." Her voice had annoyance in it. I could understand that part, the annoyance of being hidden for so many years.

"Let me ask you this then. When you do finally come out, will the Sookie I know be gone forever?"

She chuckled. "That, I am not sure of. We were not meant to be separated in the first place, so when that happened, when the witch cast the spell, she separated our soul into two parts. It was never meant to be apart. So, I don't know what will happen once I come out. We might rejoin again or we might not. The Sookie you know might just trade places with me and be stuck in the place that I was in. It isn't very nice and I doubt Sookie could handle that darkness that I am living in. She is mostly human after all right now. She might die, that part of our soul might die making her leave forever."

I growled, stepping closer to her. "You don't seem to upset by that, Sookie."

"Just call me Sook. That way you know the differences between her and I. One difference is that I don't like you growling in my face, Eric." She sighed. "Enough of that. I grow bored with petty behavior." She took a step and leaned against the railing. "It's not like I am upset by it, because there really is no reason to be. I am who I am. I am the darker part of her soul, the vampire. Vampires can be cruel and being locked away for years has changed both her and I. Of course, if Sookie is gone forever then I will feel empty and lonely the way she does now. It will be hard, just like it is for her."

"What do you mean?" I moved closer, looking deep within her eyes.

"Sookie is alone because she isn't officially connected to her other half; me. It is slowly eating away at her. No one could understand really, because no one is like us. With our soul being broken as it is, she can never truly be happy and if she dies when I come out, then I will never be fully happy. Therefore I should rephrase my answer. There is no reason to be upset for what I can't control when the time comes for me to come out, for when the spell will be broken. If I had to, I would hope that our souls connect once more and she doesn't die, because without her and her without me, we are nothing but a broken shell of what was at one time."

"Sookie-"

"Sook." She pushed in.

"Sook." I growled. "What did you do to her to make her so frightened?"

Sook closed her eyes for a moment. "I guess I could have been easier on the poor girl, but it needed to be done. I needed her to know that there is more to her than what she can see."

"You are playing with someone's sanity." I nearly yelled.

"I am playing with my _own_ sanity, if you want to get technical, Eric." She rolled her eyes. "I did not mean to make it sound so frightening, but she was very afraid and I should have been lighter in my explanation. She wouldn't have understood if I had gone an easier route though. She is but a girl still in many ways, she still has to grow and if I didn't make her see all that there is to her other side, then she would be left in the dark."

"She is still left in the dark because she is saying that it was nothing more than I dream." I scoffed.

"That is what she is telling you. I feel her more than you do, Eric. And although you know her better than anyone outside, I know her because she is me. She is hiding from herself and the subconscious state I took her to scared her enough to look at different options. Ones that will make her feel better, ones that will keep her sanity intact."

"You are talking in different personalities." I sighed.

"Yes, it is very hard to really describe things when her and I share the same soul, even if it is broken." She chuckled. "So, bear with me, Eric, because I don't want to get technical. All you need to know is that she is me and I am her. Sometimes I talk about us together and then there are times where I separate us just like the witch has done. I am different than she is, she is different than me, but we are one."

"When will you come out? When will the curse be broken?"

"Again, I don't know. That is not for me to decide. I will know when the spell wanes more, enough to where I can break through, but it hasn't hit that stage yet."

"So it is growing weaker." I narrowed my eyes.

"Oh yes." She nodded. "It is thinning out. I have to tell you, Sookie might have been itchy from the silver, but I felt the pain. I absorb most of her vampire aspects, but I can't hold back them all. That is why her skin itched, like when someone is allergic to something."

"So Sookie would feel pain from the silver once you're free?" I asked.

"If she is still alive, then yes, but I highly doubt the pain I go through would be the same from what you go through. I am half Fae, so silver doesn't burn my skin. Same goes for iron and lemon. It cannot kill me, but it will put me through dull pain."

I hated how neutral Sook sounded when talking about Sookie. How Sookie could die. She seemed so calm while talking about that subject. I felt my hand twitch and my un-beating heart seemed to hurt. I shook my head, trying to calm the beast within that was threatening to break something from this new evidence.

"You're hurting." Sook commented.

"And how would you know?" I hissed.

"The very first time I fed from you as baby, my fangs also punctured my own lip. It mixed our blood, therefore we do have a normal vampire bond and although it is very weak, I can still feel you, even after all of these years. I know how the vampire bond works, so we are unique in the sense that what we have. Sookie doesn't feel your emotions, though they are mute. They all come to me, so I guess I could say that I know you better than she does."

"Shut up." I growled.

"Does that bother you, Eric? That you have a semi bond with Sookie's vampire half and not with the seemingly human?"

"Stop." I pushed further.

Sook took a step closer, but this time I was unable to move. Her eyes connected with mine and I could see some different emotion playing in those eyes. She bent in, putting her hands on my chest and pushing me against the house wall. Her lips found my ear and my eyes closed on their own accord.

"I know you want her, Eric." She whispered. "You are trying to figure out what that connection is with her, but you are hiding from the answers which you already know."

"I said stop." I growled, grabbing her shoulders and moving her away from my face.

She grinned and leaned in once more, ignoring the pain that I was causing to her because of my tight grip. I loosened, realizing that it was Sookie's body. Her lips were inches away from mine.

"You want to claim her as your own. You want to take her body below yours and fuck her until she screams your name over and over."

"Shut the fuck up!" I yelled, turning around and slamming her into the wall.

She closed her eyes for a moment in pain, but after a second she smiled. She was pushing my patience and I needed to keep calm because I didn't want to hurt Sookie.

"Why do you hide from yourself? Hide from the fact that you are in love with me." She cocked her head to the side.

"I'm not in love with you."

"Ah, yes. That's right. You're not in love with me as in _Sook_, but in love with me as in_ Sookie_. Confusing isn't it?" Her eyes sparkled. "What if I told you that _Sookie_ wanted you to claim her? Would that change your mind? Your view on the little girl that you have protected for years? I think that is what your problem is. You are having a hard time to see that she is no longer a child, but a beautiful woman and one that you are very attracted to." She looked down. "We have grown quite a bit, haven't we? Sookie and I?"

"You have no idea what the hell you are talking about." My voice shook.

"Don't I?" Sook countered. "Did you forget that I do feel some of your emotions? Even if you hide from yourself, you can't hide from me. Neither can Sookie for that matter. She wants you nearly as bad as I do."

That made me stiffen. "You?"

"I have no trouble coming out to say that I want you more than anything. I've claimed you since birth. The vampire side, which is me, did that. The emotions Sookie is feeling toward you comes from my side of the soul we share. I would bet anything on that. At least at first that is what started it. That little crush she had on you, started from my love that I have within myself and it grew into loving you. But I was there first. I've always loved you as an adult would love another."

"Stop talking!" My fangs dropped.

She stiffed for the first time, showing true emotion in her eyes. Sadness. "It hurts me that you can love part of what Sookie and I are, but you can't love me? Only her?"

"Jealousy toward yourself?" I grounded out, trying not to be affected by her strong words.

"I've been jealous of Sookie for quite some time and I am not ashamed to say it. She gets to hold you, hug you, and laugh with you, cry in front of you and so much more. All I get to do is watch." Her voice broke on the last word. "Being separated from her has created two different people inside of our soul which we share. We are the same and yet we are so different. It is as if we are two different people, so would it really be okay for me to say that I am jealous of myself? When I truly feel as though we are so different, regardless of what I have stated before?"

"You are contradicting yourself, Sook." My hands relaxed against her shoulders.

"It's a damn shame that I am because I cannot find a different way to explain that Sookie and I are one and yet different." She removed her hand after I loosened my grip. I watched as she placed it against my cheek. "All I want is you and I am willing to fight to break free, just for you. Even if that means the part of my soul which is Sookie disappears and I will never truly be happy, feel un-lonely."

I couldn't move as she swooped in closer and brought her lips against mine. I froze as she placed her other hand against my other cheek. I felt us moving backwards, down off the porch and onto the grass. She pushed us slightly until we began to fall and instinctively, I wrapped my arms around her to keep her from getting hurt. We landed together, with her laying over my body, her lips still attached to mine.

Her tongue darted out, rubbing against my bottom lip. Everything inside of me told me to stop, this was wrong. That this woman wasn't the Sookie I knew, the one that I wanted and yet, my lips moved against hers, my tongue darted out to collect hers. My arms tightened around her and with a nudge I flipped us over until I was towering down at her frame.

She looked up at me with those intelligent eyes which seemed to shine so brightly, so happily and yet sad at the same time. I stopped because I simply couldn't do this, couldn't get over the fact that this woman wasn't the Sookie…that I wanted.

"I understand." She whispered when I did not move forward. She brought her hand up to my shoulder and gently pushed me away before sitting in the grass next to me. "It seems as though I will never be what you want, but what will happen if when the spell breaks that the Sookie you want is gone, Eric? What will you do?"

I stayed quiet for quite some time, unsure of how I should feel. For the first time in quite a few years I was lost. "You won't be Sookie." I said simply.

"No, I guess I won't be, if she is lost forever." Sook stated before turning her head to the side. With one flick of her finger, she cut into her wrist. "I cannot bring out my fangs, since the spell is still intact, but this is the only way to put me back into the void." She brought her wrist up to my mouth. "Since I made myself known to Sookie earlier, there was a very small hole in the spell barrier. You knew that and you called for me by cutting into my palm. So, if you want your Sookie back here, then you have to drink. "

"And if I don't?" I whispered.

"Then the spell might break right now." Sook said softly. "As I said before, you were the only one able to bring me out. It was your intent to do so, to force me out and find out what I told Sookie and you are the only one that can put me back. I suggest you do it because Sookie is afraid of the darkened void that I am usually stuck in."

"Why are you just offering to go back in?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Because I am not evil; or as evil as you are obviously trying to label me as. I realize that it isn't my time to be here yet and…" She paused. "because this is what you want. You want my other half, Sookie. And don't worry. Sookie will not remember any of this. I will make sure of it for your sanity."

I grabbed her wrist, feeling guilty for no real reason. I brought it to my lips and sucked deeply. Almost instantly, Sook fell limp against the soil. I sealed the wound as she began to stir once more.

"Sookie?" I asked, turning around to help her sit up.

"What happened? Did I pass out?" She rubbed her eye with the back of her hand.

"Do you remember anything?" I questioned, grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet. She wobbled, laying her hands against my chest lightly.

"No." She shook her head. "What happened?"

"I…" I paused. "I think you were just really tired, Sookie."

As I said that, she yawned. "Yeah, I guess I am."

"I have to leave." I told her gently, guiding her up the front stairs. "Dawn is approaching and since I came back because…I forgot my house keys," I lied quickly. She couldn't know that I felt her fear and came back. "I lost quite a bit of time. Do you think you can make it up the stairs yourself?"

"Yeah, yeah." She waved. "Of course I can. Good night, Eric."

"Good night…Sookie." I whispered as I watched her close the door.

I stepped down the stairs and thought of all the events that happened tonight. It was my fault that I brought out Sookie's alter ego-Sook. It would have been my fault if that couldn't have been reversed, but I wanted to know what that side had to say and realized that I got more than I really wanted. I vowed then and there, that I would never call for _Sook_ again because I was afraid. Afraid that _Sookie _would be lost forever if I did and all I could do now was hope that_ Sookie_ wouldn't be lost once the spell broke. I don't know what I would do if she was lost forever.

One thing for certain was that I would not tell Niall of what happened tonight. I've already realized that I shouldn't have done it because it could have ruined everything, so I didn't need him yelling at me too.

I sighed.

One thing I could admire from Sook was for the fact that she went back willingly, with no fear because it is what had to be done. What I wanted. I closed my eyes and imagined Sookie's lips upon my own once more before I took to the sky.


	7. Time to let go

**Author's Notes:** Hello dear and wonderful readers!

Not a very long chapter, but I thought I needed to write a little something. I've been falling behind lately, but I assure you that I am not giving up on any of my stories, and I hope you stick around for the long run!

*****PLEASE READ***:** I have just got my own wordpress account. I'm hoping that you will check it out and subscribe and all that good jazz. There I will be talking about my stories, if anyone wants to come and ask me questions, see all there is to see. It's still in the beginnings, but I am hoping that it will become somewhere for you readers to talk to me, see banners people have created for my stories, get spoilers for my stories and all that good stuff and more! Please, take a moment to check it out. :)

You can access my wordpress from my profile here on fanfiction. You will see it, just click on the 'here' and it will take you right to it. Come blog with me! :P

Alright, I should let you all enjoy the chapter now. Lol.

I own nothing, nada, zip, zilch!

XOXO-SharaMoon

* * *

><p>It has been three years since I had that horrific dream. It was one that wouldn't just go away. I wouldn't let it go away. Almost every night, before I would close my eyes for sleep, it would pop into my mind. The girl that looked so much like me, the one with the intelligent eyes always came back. I never had the same dream again over the course of these years, but it was like she was always there. I could always see her when I closed my eyes.<p>

I wasn't afraid of that anymore. It became regular routine for me, so much that I knew that when I closed my eyes for bed that her face would surface behind my lids. It…just became a part of me, I guess. I should be afraid of that, that I thought about a dream being part of who I was. That was crazy…maybe delusional.

I felt like I was losing a part of myself though. Ever since that night I never felt exactly the same. I felt…_lonely_. It was as if when I looked in the mirror, I wasn't seeing all there was to see. I was like a shadow, an outline of a painting that had not been finished. It was the only way I could describe the feeling.

It wasn't only that. Eric, he had become distant. Of course, he was still around over the three years, but he wouldn't ever meet my glances when I tried to get his attention and believe me, I've tried. The little things that we once shared seemed to disappear so suddenly, so rapidly that it made my head spin. Whenever I did catch his attention, for a brief moment I could always see some form of guilt in his eyes, but it vanished before I could ever ask him what was wrong.

I tried not to think about it, because whenever I did, it would hurt so much. I cared about him and he wasn't acting the way my Eric normally would. He used to be the type of person that always made sure I was doing alright, asked me about my day when he thought I was upset. Now, he tries to avoid it. Maybe he knows something I don't know, I have no idea. It was almost as if he was…timid when he came around me. He never got too close, like if he did, something would happen.

I missed the nights where he would come into my room and lay at my side. I missed pushing my arm around him and holding him tightly as I fell asleep. He has always been my security blanket and that had been ripped right from under me. I felt exposed…in some way.

"You seem deep in thought."

I jumped at the sound of his voice. I turned around suddenly, flashing him a narrowed eyed glance as I did so. Putting my hands on my hips, I huffed a sigh.

"I usually am." I allowed. "What are you doing here? You know I have work tonight."

"I came to take you there." Eric leaned against my wall, farthest away from where I was standing, by my closet.

The distance thing really hurt me. I didn't understand it, I still couldn't. Why would he change out of nowhere toward me? I tried to meet his eyes and there it was, once again. He wouldn't meet my gazes. I watched as his eyes flicked to mine and then down at the floor.

I sighed. "I think I am perfectly able to head to Merlotte's myself, Eric. I've done it before."

"There are a lot of vampires prowling tonight, Sookie. I think it would be best…"

"Nope. I've seen a bunch of vampires, Eric. It's not like I can't handle myself." I crossed my arms.

"Sookie…" There was his bitten tone.

"Eric." I mocked.

Finally, he sighed. "You have no idea what is out there, Sookie. There are more than just vampires…more than your little eyes can see. Not all vampires are like me, not all of them are nice."

"You? Nice?" I scoffed playfully, but he didn't seem to be having that. "Eric, I have yet to meet a bad vampire. This is Bon Temps were talking about."

"Even better for a vampire. A small town with a bunch of land to hide bodies when they drain them dry."

"You aren't going to give up are you?" I sighed.

"I never give up."

"Yeah you do." I whispered and my eyes widened. I…didn't mean to say that.

"What did you say?" Eric asked, as astonished as me, but there was a difference. He seemed pissed off.

"Nothing, Eric." I shook my head and turned around to the closet.

"No, I want to know what you meant by that, Sookie."

"Forget, alright?"

"Tell me." He nearly growled. "I don't like when you play these silly ass games and you know it. If you have something to say, then say it."

I closed my eyes and bit my tongue. "What bothers me is that you don't think I can do things for myself, Eric. That I am some poor little girl that needs some sort of saving. I think I should make it clear, here and now. I am not a little girl anymore. I am twenty-one years old and I don't need some vampire trying to take me to work."

"One, I haven't thought about you as a little girl for a few years now and Two, yes you do need someone to watch out for you. Everyone does. Sookie, this world is not something to take lightly. You have no idea…"

"Oh yes, Eric. I really do understand. Don't insult my intelligence. I've seen what bad vampires can do on TV all the time. What I don't need is you coming and going as you do, when it pleases you to do so. That is what I mean." Something inside of me lurched angrily, it was nearly painful, but I didn't think anything of it. Three years of pent up frustration and it was all coming out tonight. "I don't need some half ass 'protector' when it is convenient for you. I'm nothing special. I may have a mental ability to read minds, but who the hell would want that?"

"You have no idea what the hell you are talking about, Sookie." He said angrily.

"I don't? Then, please, fill me in." I turned around to see that he had moved ever so closer to me. I watched as he opened his mouth and said nothing, like he does a million times when we get into it. "Exactly. You never have anything to say about it once we get this far into a conversation." I blinked rapidly. "I don't know what is up from down with you anymore, Eric. You push me away, but you always keep me in arms reach and you never tell me why. I'm so confused about this…_thing_ we have between us." I motioned back and forth. "What are we to one another? I can't even see a reason why you are still here after so many years, but again, you won't tell me anything. You won't even come near me anymore."

"Sookie…" There seemed to be an edge of sadness now.

"No," But I wasn't having that. "I'm not doing this anymore. I'm old enough now to where I don't need you to come check on me every night, even if you promised 'someone that knew my Gran' to watch over her, Jason and I-even if you always just come bug me and not them." I was fuming, I knew that I was. Something inside of burned with a different kind of anger though. It was as if directed toward me. Self-hatred for what I was saying? My conscience? I didn't give a damn, I could hate myself later.

"You don't understand..." He tried.

"Of course I don't understand! You never, ever let me in to understand." I took a deep breath and calmed myself the best I could. I was still shaking. "I want you to leave, for right now. I'm tired of being pulled in every direction with you and it hurts because I once had confided in you with everything, but we have become too distant. You've changed and I…" I paused. I knew it was true, but I didn't want to say it. "I've changed, Eric. I want different things. I want to find out who I am and I can't do that with you breathing down my neck."

His eyes seemed to grow dull as he finally met my gaze. For the first time in a long time, he looked at me deeply. "There is so much I wish I could tell you, Sookie, but I can't."

"That doesn't help me, Eric. Please…just go."

He blinked once before casting his eyes back to the window. He turned quickly and jumped out the way he had come. Something in my mind told me to go after him, to give him more time that he will open up sooner or later about things I don't understand, but I didn't move from where I stood. My mind screamed, the self-hatred I must be feeling boiled up until it almost suffocated me, but still I didn't go after him because I wanted to make myself believe that I didn't need Eric Northman to be my hero for hidden ghouls and demons that wanted nothing to do with me in the first place.

'_Go after him! Give him time!'_ I could physically hear my own voice shouting at me, so much anger hidden in those words.

"I've given him years of time." I whispered in the darkened room.

It was time that I let go of my silly crush on him because even if he cares for me, he wasn't going to show me.


	8. New vampire in town

**Author's Notes: **Hello readers!

I am back with another chapter and one that I hope you like. We are getting into some serious stuff now. I know all of you were upset with Eric in the last chapter, but hopefully it will change. He is struggling-clearly. All in all, I hope you enjoy where I take this story. I am incorporating some of the book materials into this story, but it isn't exactly going to be like them either. This has my own crazy-ass world thrown into the mix. ;)

Thank you so much for the support, and I hope that you will continue to read what I have written from here on in. I might update a bit slower, since I believe I may have the start of Carpal Tunnel, but I will not give up. No matter what!

**ALSO**: To make it clear the _Italic _writing is when Sookie hears herself within her mind. Aka, it is Sook; the vampire half of Sookie. Confused yet? :P MUHAHAHAHA!

The _**Italic Bold **_is Sookie hearing other people's thoughts. I did this, so it isn't all jumbled up.

So, here you are! Get to reading!

I own nothing, nada, zip, zilch!

XOXO-SharaMoon

* * *

><p><strong>Eric's POV:<strong>

I followed her to work, as I do all the time. I wouldn't have let her go on her own at a time like this. Vampires seemed to be drawn to this backwater town even more since we had come out into the open, three years ago. Vampires liked shady places and ones that they could hide a body very easily. I knew this, because I have done that before in my time. I knew all of their tricks, but now was different.

There was a girl I cared about involved. I wouldn't let any harm come to her and yet…I seem to be the one that was harming her lately.

I growled and flew above her car, higher so she couldn't see that I was there. Once she parked outside the shabby bar and walked inside, I turned to make my leave, but that wasn't before I looked at the Were who was standing against the tree off to the side of the place. Clearly hidden he was, but not good enough to that I wouldn't notice him.

"You leavin', Eric?" He asked, flicking his cigarette to the ground.

"I have business to deal with or man to deal with, I should say." I said as I moved toward him. "Anything strange happens, you call me. If something happens to her on your watch there will be hell to pay. Understood?"

"Yeah, I got ya." He said.

I turned to take my leave, but before I did I looked over my shoulder. "And Alcide, don't go setting the forest on fire with a cigarette."

I watched him roll his eyes before I took off into the sky.

I had business to deal with and I wasn't lying when I told Alcide that. A certain fairy has rubbed me the wrong way for the last time. I picked up my phone and dialed the number before landing outside the hidden portal that I knew was there. I couldn't go in, but I would wait until he came out.

"Hello, Eric." His voice was soft.

"Get your ass out here,_ now_." I growled.

A few minutes passed before he appeared before me, but I didn't want to deal with pleasantries. Fuck that. I grabbed his neck and turned us until he was pushed up against a tree. I heard movement behind me. I looked over my shoulder, barring my fangs to notice that his two guards had stepped forward with crossbows that had wooden arrows aimed at my back.

"I could move faster than you could pull those triggers." I growled at them.

"Stand down." Niall waved them off, clearly not frightened that I was holding him by his neck. "Eric, let go."

"You told me to stay away from her. Now she wants nothing to do with me, Niall. That might cost us this whole thing." My grip tightened as I glared into his eyes.

"Eric, I told you to hide your feelings for her. You are her guard and if you get to emotionally involved than that would cost us the whole thing. I've told you that, the night you brought out her vampire side. The one that you kissed."

My grip on his neck faltered. "You know I didn't mean for that to happen."

"That is neither here nor there. You kissed her vampire side, you brought her out. I had fairies there that night that watched it all. You know this, we've talked about it. I'm sorry, Eric, but I thought this was for the better. If you get too involved with her then there would be a chance that _Sook _would come back out and you wouldn't be able to return her. You've been reckless these past three years. I've never seen you this way and to be honest it has me worried. I worry that your love for my granddaughter will either cost you your life or hers. I don't want that happening. I couldn't lose either of you. You are my friend, Eric and you always have been. It would be sad to see you fall because of this."

I growled. "It's not for you to decide. She is an adult now."

"It is my wish for you to stay back, to guard her but not be as close as you were. Of course, I cannot stop you, but you have listened to what I said three years ago when I requested you to remove yourself slightly from her life." He cocked his head to the side before moving away from the tree. "If you are so angry because of what I asked of you before, then why weren't you then?"

"I really don't have to explain anything to you." I turned around and crossed my arms, looking up at the night sky.

"It is because you were afraid, weren't you?"

"I'm _never_ afraid." I said emotionless.

"Of course you are. You are afraid of the vampire half of her because that is not the half you want Sookie to be. Sookie is a sweet girl. That is the girl you have fallen in love with. Not the overly smart, conning, vampire that is Sook." Niall stepped around me. "I was afraid too. I'm afraid of what she did that night. How easy it was for you to call her out and her to come. We have no idea what Sook is like because she was hidden for all those years. What if she is not good? That was what I was afraid of. Afraid of my own grandchild." He shook his head. "It makes me feel sick that I would be scared, but I did and I do. I have no knowledge if the place Sook had been living in changed her vampire half into something evil."

"She's not…evil." I told him. Sook, the other half of Sookie didn't seem that way.

"How can you honestly know? No vampire's mind works the same, Eric. You cannot be sure."

"No, I can't." I allowed.

"For the past three years, I've been trying to find a way to…kill the vampire half of Sookie, so Sookie could live as she does now and not have to worry about her other half."

That made something in my stomach leap painfully. "You can't."

"Why not, Eric? This would be better. You could be with Sookie, as she is. Isn't that what you want? We wouldn't have to be too careful. Sookie could have a semi-normal life being what she has been since we brought her to Adele."

"Sookie…couldn't live without Sook. It was something that Sook said to me that night. Sookie would be lonely because half of her would be missing. Though Sook is hidden from Sookie right now, they still share a bond, though weak. It would be broken, Sookie would be lost, if we killed Sook."

"Yes, you told me, but we might lose Sookie when Sook is brought out anyway. The Sookie we know might no longer exist, Eric."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. As much as I would love that, I couldn't handle it. Something told me to believe that Sookie would be just fine when Sook came out. If that was my own wishful thinking, I wasn't sure. All I knew was that I couldn't have Sookie lose a part of herself, even if I was…afraid of that other half.

It's why I stayed away from Sookie. Not only because Niall had asked me to pull back from being so close. I felt as though I should. To keep her just a bit longer as she was. I was afraid that if I got closer to Sookie, Sook would come forth once more and I wouldn't be able to tame and put her back. Guilt was laced in with everything I did. I had kissed the vampire half, yet yearned for the Sookie I knew. Guilt because of that and because I followed in what Niall had asked of me, to guard her but not get close, even when Sookie was so confused by it all.

"We can never be sure. There seems to be no win for anyone here. All we can do…is hope that Sookie will not be lost." I whispered. "As much as I want to agree with you, Niall, it isn't right. What we did, sending the vampire half away to begin with was wrong. It changed them both, created two separate beings living in one body. I don't think we should tamper with fate any longer, because we could just hurt Sookie worse. I couldn't do that to her…not anymore."

"Which her are you talking about, Eric?" Niall looked sad, but I knew that he knew I was right.

That was hard for me to answer though. I loved Sookie, but didn't care for Sook. It didn't matter though, because with Sookie came Sook and if I loved Sookie then I had to watch out for all of her, regardless of my own emotions on the subject.

"Both of them." I shrugged. "Don't expect me to stay away for much longer. She needs me. I will have to be careful, not to bring Sook out again, but she is not a child. I do not have to coddle her as a child anymore. I care for her and nothing will stop me again."

"Then I have to request one thing, regardless of what you plan." Niall looked into my eyes for a moment. "You still cannot tell her what she is. I am afraid that it will cause only more problems right now. I want her to stay in the unknown for a bit longer. No need to scare my granddaughter a little less than a year before the transformation should happen."

"Then when should we tell her?" I mumbled.

"Soon, I promise you that. I want to find out more about this. If we will not kill her other half, then I want to find out if Sookie will survive when the transformation comes. That could take time."

"Who are you going to see?" I asked.

"Ancient Pythoness." He waved as he entered the portal once more. "Goodbye for now, Eric."

* * *

><p><strong>Sookie's POV:<strong>

I wiped my eye, taking the remainder of tears away from my face as I entered the door to the bar. Tonight was going to be a long night, I could tell. The place was full, much to my horror. I couldn't put up my barriers as best as I should. I was too emotional to keep them all the way up.

_**What I wouldn't do for that girl…**_

_**Ugh! See what that tramp is wearing? So disgusting…**_

_**I need a beer…**_

Thoughts were leaking through as I bustled around the tables, but I put on my very best smile and continued the best I could. No need to look crazier than I usually appear to be. I wrote down the order to Hoyt's meal before handing it off to the cook.

Music was playing way too loudly, but it wasn't only the music I was hearing. People were singing to the song in their minds, thinking of really gross things that song could mean, and I don't even want to get into it about the guy who was thinking of plunging something.

I rubbed my forehead and leaned against the bar. I even contemplated taking a drink to calm all the emotions I was feeling, but that would only make matters worse. A headache began to brew in my temples, stretching across my forehead and I closed my eyes. Tonight. Just. Sucks.

An hour went by before I realized that maybe I should have called in sick, but I couldn't ask Sam if I could go home. I was smiling, acting normal on the outside. It might look too weird, even if he did know of my little mind reading. He was the only one in the bar who knew. Still, it would be ridiculous of me to ask him to go home just because I felt like an utter and complete wreck.

I felt sorry for what I said to Eric.

_You should._

My own voice entered my mind again. My conscience decided to beat me up more than I already was. Off and on, I felt sick to my stomach from what I had said. I didn't need any more crap. I was sorry, but did that really make anything better? Did that take my confusion away? No, it didn't.

_You're an ass…I hope you know._

"You're a bigger one." I whispered to myself.

Great, I was now having a conversation. I must be going crazy. That isn't normal, not in the least. I sighed as I pushed toward another table, putting the drinks down and smiling at the two bar patrons that were here regularly. They thought I was cute, but also crazy. Just my life, always will be.

I rolled my eyes as I went back to put the tray on the table, to get another drink from the man who-no so nicely-ordered me to get him another scotch. As I turned the bottle over, someone came through the door. I looked up, because there was a cooling atmosphere. My eyes wandered to a man with short dark brown hair, side burns. My eyes traveled to his face again, noticing that he was very pale. His eyes were mysterious as he looked around the bar before he crept in slowly. He found a booth…in my area.

It was very clear to me that he was a vampire; a vampire that could numb my head for just a little while…

_Don't you even dare!_

"Shut up." I groaned to myself. I hate my own mind and it clearly hates me. Awesome.

_It's not safe!_

"I thought I said shut up?" I stepped forward.

Whatever my mind was going to spew at me stopped as the man looked up in my direction.

"Excuse me?" He asked.

I blushed ten shades of red. He heard me talking to myself. I closed my eyes before I plastered on a big smile, probably too big. "No, not at all. Welcome to Merlotte's. What can I get ya?" I tiptoed back and forth on my feet, waiting for him. He was cute and I felt oddly shy, which wasn't me at all.

"Do you have any of that…synthetic blood?" His voice was smooth, slightly husky and full blown southern gentleman type. It had a nice ring to it.

"Well, we don't get very many vampires in here, but we do have one or two. Sam was going to order some before the others went bad. You know." I stopped, realizing I was rambling even more. He just smiled at me.

"I'll take B positive, if you have that," His eyes met mine and there was a slight tingling in the back of my head, but I pushed it off as nothing. "Sookie." My brows furrowed in confusion before he quickly pointed at my nametag on my shirt.

"Of course, sir. Be right back with it." I rushed to the counter and opened the little fridge we had standing there. I turned and popped the bottle into the microwave after taking off the lid. As I was standing there, Sam came up beside me.

"Vampire, huh?" He whispered.

"Yeah, first one Merlotte's has seen in a while." I smiled.

"Not true." Sam shook his head. "I see some standing outside sometimes. Never know what they are doing there, but they haven't tried to eat people, so I guess it's not a big deal. I could call the cops for loitering, but again, not a big deal."

"Sam," I chuckled. "You look into things way too much."

"Do I now?" He grinned as I slipped around him. The bar was very narrow, so we touched bodies as I passed him.

"You really do." I said to Sam as I moved back to the table where the vampire was sitting. "Here you are…?" I was fishing for a name, he knew that I was. The thing I had to wait for was if he would tell me, or not.

"Bill. Bill Compton." He finally said with a slight smirk lifting his lips.


	9. Letter

**Author's Notes: **Hello readers!

Okay, so not a very long chapter, but a very important one. *smirks* I've just become excited again for this story.

I own nothing, nada, zip, zilch!

XOXO-SharaMoon

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><p><strong>Eleven months until suspected transformation:<strong>

_I've sent you all that I know is possible and your address has not changed in over the eight-hundred years that I have known you. Of course, I wouldn't be ignorant enough to send this straight to you. It has undergone quite a few obstacles to make it to your home. It should now be in your hands right now, regardless of where you are located at the moment, I believe._

_You do not take kindly to 'unexpected' visitors, I remember you telling me that, but really, what would you classify unexpected as you See all that there is to see toward your own self future? Regardless of that, that is the reason I decided to write you this letter, in hopes that you will meet me some time very soon, regarding my granddaughter Sookie Brigant-Marriot, or better known as Sookie Stackhouse. You know that her last two names have been changed to better keep her heritage hidden as she is the child of my daughter, the princess of the Fae and also the daughter of a very high ranking vampire that is known throughout the world. My daughter Michelle and her lover James lost their lives the day, twenty-one years ago when Sookie had been born, but of course, you remember this as well. You had told me the fate that would befall upon my child the night she went into labor. _

_An unspeakable evil to the outside world is what Sookie would have been called by both the fairy and vampire race and that is where it led us, to keep her hidden, shrouded from her own self and the rest of the supernatural world. When I first thought about hiding her vampire half, I believed I was doing what was needed to be done, but now I am not so sure my hopes for my granddaughter helped her in anyway. _

_Eric Northman-her guardian as you also know- told me that Sookie had taken on an alter-ego when he brought her vampire side out into the open. It was dangerous, I am very aware of what had transpired, but it also gave us more pieces of the puzzle that we have been trying to figure out since Sookie had been isolated from part of herself. The spell had caused her soul to split into two parts, creating a physical person within Sookie. This vampire half has liked to be called Sook to keep their identities separated. That is not good. Sook has a mind of her own, clearly different from the way Sookie thinks. It is unnatural and should have never manifested. I believe we did something wrong now, when we bound her vampire side away into the darkness of a void within her very body. _

_Eric doesn't see too much harm that Sook could cause, but we are not sure, nor could we be because every case can be different. The Sook Eric had released three years ago could have put on a front, a very clever trick to hide her true personality, or I could be completely wrong about my assessment and Sook may not be the bad person that I think she could be. I have no idea and I am afraid to find out otherwise. _

_But my fears cannot outweigh the possibility that Sook could ultimately cause harm to Sookie and the rest of the world. The fate-as you have told me-should have never happened. Creating such a child out of a magical fairy object that is called the Cluviel Dor can be ultimately dangerous. Though I do not like to think of my grandchild in such a negative way, what she is cannot be denied any longer. She is a spawn of a magic tool. Vampires should never be able to procreate because of the strength and other abilities they seem to possess after being turned. It is simply not possible and yet it is what had happened. _

_There was only one other case like this and no one else in the world knows this except for you and I. We have talked after learning about this just four years ago. How is it possible that we could not have known such a thing existed? In the four years since we have found the scrolls and found the location, I haven't told a soul of what we had read from the archives and neither have you, I am rather sure of that. Only you and I now know what happened nearly six thousand years ago. The rest of the council still believe that Sookie was the first of her kind, though, she wasn't. _

_I have read the words that adorned the scroll of what had happened the time this 'creature' was born and grew until he reached adulthood. They have always called it a creature because though it was a man-half fairy and vampire- something that does those kinds of horrific violent acts cannot be called a being. When the man reached adulthood, as we know now, something inside him changed. His mind snapped; the fairy and vampire blood did not mix any longer. No one could stop him as he tore through the world. Stronger than anything that there was, feeding off of humans, but instead of just drinking their blood he fed from their flesh. The powers he possessed were wildly great, if something so dangerous could be called that. He killed many, nearly made all of the supernatural world disappear from the face of the Earth. He was the most dangerous, unpredictable and powerful creature that couldn't have been stopped; which is another reason why I have sent you this letter: to begin experimenting on him as soon as possible. It is dangerous to try, but with the magical spells keeping him in his guarded cell, chained with pure silver and iron, I am sure we are safe._

_I need to know what my grandchild will become and to find out if she will have the same change as Malakai did; or if she shall 'survive', for a better word. I am concerned that she will go through the change and it was that reason alone, why I have wanted to kill the vampire half for a while now; to stop that possible change he had undergone. _

_As much as I know what might need to be done, I cannot stomach the idea of killing my grandchild and yet, I do not want the same fate to befall Sookie as it has done Malakai. We don't have the faintest idea of what the chants and sacrifices the Egyptian's had done to imprison Malakai and the world's mind had been wiped clean from the memories of his destruction; both human and supernaturals alike. The scrolls do not tell us what we need to know and even you, cannot look into the past to try to find out what needs to be known.  
><em>

_There lies our problem, Ancient One. One we would hope to forget and yet, cannot afford to do as such. We must come together once more and decide the fate of the world as the races had to have done before us. _

_My Regards, _

_Niall. _

"Madam." A whispering voice entered the tomb that was located in a hidden pyramid, masked away from the eyes of everyone on the face of the earth.

"How did you learn to speak English, Malakai, when I was quite certain you have never heard the language?" The Ancient One's voice echoed back as she turned her sightless gaze upon the man changed in silver and iron and in a one cell room with a magical blue bubble surrounding the area.

"I have my ways, madam. It is just part of my learning experience being trapped in this place for so long. I have time to think of the world that surrounds me not too far above my cell. Many things have changed in world, hasn't it? Probably wouldn't look the same to me once I break free, would it?"

The Ancient Pythoness sat down the letter that was written in a form of braille before sighing. "And what makes you believe that you will ever reach the surface once more?"

Malakai smirked, but it was jumpy. He was incredibly weak. Within the many years he had sat in his cell, he had not drank a single ounce of blood, and yet, he was still alive. It seemed impossible, even vampires needed blood to survive, but with Malakai that wasn't the case.

"Because there is a new breed in the world; one exactly like me. She calls to me, you know. Except that she doesn't realize she does. And it is _both _of them calling me, searching within their heart for me." He chuckled as her sightless eyes widened. "Ah, yes, I know that as well. I know that she was_ accidentally_ split into two beings within one soul, just to hide her vampire half from the world. I also know that you want to experiment on me to see if she will be just as I am; as powerful, as _evil_ and corrupted as I."

"And what is she?" Ancient One asked, sitting down in the low chair by the door.

"She is death." Malakai said swiftly. "Just as I am."

"Death to whom?" The sightless vampire woman leaned slightly forward intent on what he had to say.

There was silence that met her for quite some time.

Finally, through the chilling silence his voice entered. "Death to whoever stands in her way." He paused. "And, I hope to help her in that because she is meant to be _mine_."

Malakai leaned back and fell into a deep slumber once more.

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><p><strong>AN:** Alright, so I had to re-do this chapter, because it slightly didn't fit as much as I hoped to. I totally forgot that I had a Niall POV in the very first chapter and with what I had written before, it would have been contradicting everything. So, I hope this makes sense, I really do because I love the idea of where I want to take this. I hope that none of you get confused...I believe I fixed the chapter from what I had just recently posted. If you read it before, like...20 minutes ago...re-read please. lol.

My head is clearly not on right today. :/

So, all in all, I hope you like where I plan on going with this.

Until next time…*tips imaginary hat*


	10. His words

**Author's Notes: **Hello readers!

Sorry it has taken me awhile to put this up! Just so busy! I hope you don't mind.

Okay, that being said, this will be a short A/N.

Sook talking in Sookie's mind is in: _**Bold italic**_

Sookie thinking is in: _Italic_

Malakai talking to Sook toward the end is in: _Italic/Underline_

That way we can make sure that none of us are confused as to who is thinking/talking. I hope I do not confuse you guys too much! Lol.

And, I didn't look over this chapter as much as I should have done, so forgive me if there are any mistakes.

I own nothing, nada, zip, zilch!

XOXO-SharaMoon

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><p><strong>Sookie's POV:<strong>

"Sookie?" Bill Compton whispered as I passed his table for the third time tonight.

I smirked, turning on my heels to stand before him. This was the sixth time he has been in Merlotte's this week and just yesterday he had told me he moved into the house not too far from mine. The old Compton home. It was messy from the outside, I remembered when he told me, but that was as far as I got. I felt so bad that he didn't have electricity in that big old house, so I just had to extend my help to him and I ended up calling for an electrician since they didn't stay open late. They came right over when I called and proceeded to help him out yesterday.

"Yes, Bill?" I asked, sitting down at the booth with him when he motioned for me to do so.

"I wanted to thank you for your help with the electricity business. It was not your problem and yet you helped me out." He paused. "You helped a _vampire _out."

I chuckled gently. "Well, it wouldn't be the first time I helped a vampire."

"Really?" He asked quickly.

"Uh," Okay, I knew I shouldn't have been so open about that. "Yeah, some come in here at times. I'm nice to everyone. I try to help everyone as long as they are kind and courteous toward me. My Gran had taught me right."

"Ah, yes, I remember you mentioning her yesterday. She seems like a fine nice woman, indeed." He smiled gently. "Anyway, I wanted to offer you something for your kindness."

"Oh, y-you did?" I blushed, turning my face to the side.

"Yes." He chuckled at me. "I was wondering if you would like to go out with me sometime. You said before that you were not frightened of vampires in any way. I don't know if you said that in a joking manner, but I was thinking that I could take you to a bar called Fangtasia tonight."

"F-Fangtasia?" Oh God, that was Eric's bar and I haven't seen Eric in a few days! What the heck was I supposed to do?

_**Not go.**_

_But why not? _I argued back against my mind. _It's not like…_

_**Not like what? You would be going to the bar Eric owns with another vampire. How on earth would you explain that? Or is that what you want? Do you want Eric to get jealous? You haven't even spoken of him. It's been 'Beel' this and 'Beel' that. For the love of God, it's so fucking annoying!**_

_Should my head really be talking like this?_

_**Honey, think what the hell you want, but you better not go-**_

"Yes, Bill. I would love to go." I smiled as I rushed out, looking at Bill.

_**Are you…are you fucking serious, Sookie? Did you not even hear what I said? **_

"That is wonderful news, Sookie. Thank you so very much for accepting!" Bill smiled.

"I'm honored that you…want to take me out. It's the least I could do, for all of your kindness toward me." I gushed, ignoring my mind completely.

_**You're like a broken record, you know that, right? Sookie…this guy is dangerous. I can just feel it. **_

"So, when do you want to go tonight?" I asked Bill, trying to gain my own body's control once more.

"Well, since I have just gotten here and it is just after night fall, I was hoping that we could head out at around two in the morning. That is a few hours from now."

"That's great, Bill. I get off in an hour. I need to go freshen up and possibly take a rest for a little while." I was nervous and yet, so excited about this. I felt…empowered.

_**No, that is clearly not empowerment. That is just stupidity at its finest."**_

"Whatever." I muttered darkly.

"What was that, Sookie?" Bill turned to look back at me as he stood.

"Nothing, nothing!" I waved him off with a crazy Sookie smile.

I'm going crazy, talking to my own mind isn't normal. What the hell was wrong with me?

_**If I could tell you, I so would, you crazy bitch.**_

_No need for that kind of language! _I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. Something was seriously, seriously wrong with me.

I grabbed my bag, waved goodbye to Sam and the others and then I was off. I made it home, kissing Gran's cheek as I went up the stairs. I told her of my exciting news tonight, leaving out the part that I would be going to Eric's bar. She didn't need to know that, because I was sure she wouldn't allow it. I was an adult for crying out loud! But, she still was my Gran and I valued her opinion…I just didn't want to hear how dangerous that could be tonight. Besides, she wasn't too happy about this new vampire that I've been talking about either, but she hadn't really said much at all on the subject.

Looking at the clock, I realized that I had a few hours that I could catch up on a nap, which I desperately needed. I haven't slept very well in quite a long time. It was because of Eric, I was worried about him, but I had no reason to be. He hadn't tried to contact me in those three days, since I've seen him last. Maybe he had finally gotten the picture; that he was standing in my way of learning who I was.

I sighed in relief when my conscience had no witty reply to that and I laid down on my bed quickly, closing my eyes as I did so. Except when my eyes closed, something was wrong. I could feel it in the pit of my stomach that this dream I was having, wasn't a dream at all.

The area was lit dimly by candles, it was different than any place that I had been before. The room was dark; the walls had some sort of inscription written in the stone. It lined the whole area in different markings that I couldn't decipher. There was a blue haze, a light blue hue that coated the air like fog in the morning, but it was musky to the smell; like I was locked away in a stuffy old basement of some sort.

There was a clicking noise to the left of me, a small scraping of a wall. I turned my attention to the sound at hand only to come upon a man standing before me.

Long black curly strands hung down nearly to his stomach, the rest of his hair was braided and laying behind his back. His body was the color of teak and yet, he was pale for that color. His body was chiseled and he wore no shirt. My gaze followed down his stomach first, looking at the short black trail of hair that slid down underneath his ripped shorts. They were hanging extremely low on his hips, giving me a nice view of his v-line. As quickly as I looked down, I looked up to see that his face was staring straight at me. His eyes are what I noticed first. Green eyes that were deeply dark on the outside, getting lighter as they moved toward the pupil. It was the most beautiful color that I have ever seen, reminding me of a forest, somehow. His face had a strong bone structure, his cheeks jagging out as if he was some type of royal God in true form. His right thick black eyebrow was raise and his full lips were curved slightly into a smile that begged me to move forward, silently asking me to come near him. Everything on his was perfect; there were no flaws that I could see.

His nostrils flared gently, making the slight bump on the bridge of his nose crinkle before his smiled widened. "You smell delightful, Sookie."

"D-Do I know you?" I whispered, feeling oddly flushed.

"Not physically, you don't, but you know me in your heart." His voice was smooth, a deep octave that had a shiver slide up and down my spine, tingling my entire body. "You just have to look very deeply to understand."

"To understand…what?" I asked.

"To accept within yourself that we belong as one. You are mine and I am fully yours." He took a step toward me, lifting his strong hand toward my body.

My heart thundered in my chest as I looked at the gorgeously handsome man asking something from me. What did he want? He…this man wanted me, didn't he? But, who is he?

"What is your name?" I questioned gently.

A wider smile grew on his lips, so much that I noticed a set of fangs behind them, but that wasn't right. I was sure he wasn't a vampire.

"I am Malakai, my dearest. That is my name. It is what I have gone by for six thousand years."

"S-Six thousand?" I stuttered.

"Yes, I have not lost count like many do, I understand. Though, I haven't seen the world in as long as I can remember. I do not remember the feeling of the sun touching my skin, or the night's breeze blowing through my hair." He blinked slowly, lust literally blazing from those green hues. "But, I have to admit to you, from every woman that I have ever set my eyes on, you are by far the most beautiful."

I blushed, feeling very warm as I looked at him. The warmth send cold chills to every part of my body, but how was that possible? Being hot and cold at the same time?

"What do you want from me, Malakai?" I whispered.

His eyes closed fully and he groaned before smiling gently. "I love the way my name slips from your lips so beautifully. So, what I want from you now, is to hear my name slip through those luscious lips quite a few times while you are here with me."

"Uh…" I blinked rapidly.

"Come." It was one word, but it had so much power over me. My foot took a step without me making it do so.

"Sookie…no." My own voice was heard behind me. I turned slightly to see my exact double once more.

My eyes widened. The dream I had before, the girl…the one I was scared of. She was…I was…chained to the wall behind me. I deadpanned because that didn't even make sense to me.

"Ah, _Sook_ decided to join us." Malakai chuckled. "It's so nice to meet you as well, my love."

"Fuck off." Sook hissed, pulling her lip back in a snarl to show her own fangs. "Sookie, fight against him."

"She can't." Malakai spoke to my double…Sook? Was that what he called her? "After all, when the spell was ignited, it made the object mostly human. Therefore, a human is weak. The weakest being in the world and Sookie's heart is yearning for me. Can't you hear it, Sook? Do you not hear it beating for me only?"

"What are you…talking about?" I asked trembling, looking in fright to my double Sook.

"Nothing." They both said in unison, not taking their eyes off of one another.

"Ah, so you cannot tell her either." Sook chuckled harshly.

"Unfortunately not. It is not for me to decide and my spell binding me to this place will not allow me to physically tell _her_."

"Tell 'her' what?" I said loudly.

"Nothing." They spoke again.

All too quickly, Malakai spun until he was standing behind me. He looked at Sook as he took me into his arms, cradling me against his chest as he leaned my head to the side. I couldn't fight him off. My breath came out in pants, my body was on fire wherever he touched and I was…enjoying it. I wanted more, I so wanted more. His hand came up under my breast, groping me gently as my head tilted back and I groaned.

"You see how easy it is, Sook?" Malakai said to the double of myself, while fondling my breast in a way no man has ever done. No man has ever touched that place on my body. His fingers gripped my right nipple, giving it a light squeeze. I moaned out, leaning against him harder. "Do you see how easily she loses herself in my grasp?"

Sook rattled her chains that she was tied in, growling out as she watched what was transpiring in front of her. I moaned out in both pleasure and desperation for something to happen. I wanted this and yet, I didn't. I wanted him to stop, but I wanted more of it. My head spun harshly, making everything seem to go fuzzy.

"Let her go." Sook hissed.

"Now, why would I do that, when I have her exactly where I want her?" He chuckled at her. "It's the spell that is allowing me to get this closely to the 'human' that is her. You are only able to fight because you have been hidden so long in a different void without any contact." He smirked, turning my head to the side and kissing me fully on the lips. My eyes widened as his tongue connected with mine, swirling around in my mouth. My eyes closed slowly, taking in the feeling of his lips against my own, his tongue wrestling mine. Just before I relaxed into it, there was a sharp pain and I felt something slide down the corner of my lip, down my neck.

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><p><strong>Sook's POV:<strong>

There was a pulsing of blood in the air as I watched my blood, Sookie's blood fall down her neck as he kissed her. I was enticed instantly by the blood. It drew my attention more than it should have since it was my own. I realized then, that the different smell in the air was his own blood mixing with mine, with Sookie's.

My eyes trembled as Sookie lost consciousness before me. I rattled the chains more, trying to figure a way to get out, but I couldn't. This wasn't a dream; we were actually pulled here to wherever this Malakai guy was at. This was real, or at least mostly real. I was afraid, this man, this…_thing_ was dangerous, more dangerous than Bill.

He smirked, dropping Sookie to the floor gently before looking up at me. He had blood all over his lips and he wasn't wiping it off. He had a plan, I knew he did.

"But Sookie isn't the one that I want most. It is the vampire in her that I want. It's you, Sook." He stepped forward slowly, stalking me. "You see, we are alike; all three of us, which is very weird, since I have to talk to you two as two separate beings, but it is the vampire that you are that has me enticed. Sookie was the reason I was able to bring you here, so I guess I was thankful for that."

"Leave us alone. I don't know who or what you are…"

"But you see? You are like me!" He frowned. "It is sad when you cannot even realize that."

"No, I feel pure evil from you. I'm not evil."

"I wasn't evil to start out with either, Sook. When I reached adulthood the vampire and Fae blood wouldn't mix right any longer. My vampire side won, but in doing so, it had a weird side-effect. I became the strongest, most powerful being that there is in this entire world. And you know what made that change, Sook? A vampire woman of all creatures." He chuckled. "I was in a relationship with her. She was what a certain council called my guardian. She loved me and I loved her, I didn't know it would happen the way it did." He shook his head, turning his blue eyes to me. "Since we were created out of a magical fairy _love_ object, it has to be love that changes you into what you will become, or so I believe."

"Love that changes us into what we will be?" I asked, trying to back into the wall more.

"Correct. And they have to bite you, regardless of the species of Supernatural or human that loves you does it. They have to draw blood, drink your blood, though it might be different for your case. Since the spell messed up the course of things, I am not sure what will happen once the transformation begins."

"You are talking as if it was always meant to happen." I whispered.

"It is. I was twenty-two when the change happened and I have not aged a day since."

"Twenty-two?" I gulped.

"Yes."

"Why do they have to bite you?"

"You ask quite a lot of questions, my love." He smirked. "They have to bite you because if they don't you will die. It has to be someone that loves you and you take on whatever it is that is truly in their heart at the time. What their deepest desire for _you_ is. You don't even need to love the person back, but they must love you in some way."

"That makes no sense!" I yelled.

"Of course it doesn't. It is unheard of. I was the first and you are the second. Two creatures alone in the entire world that has nothing more to go on than just guess work. It is what happened to me. She bit me, loved me and created me into the monster that I am today. She wanted me to be the most powerful vampire that there was in the entire world, to be something different than ever before. More different than what I had started out to be. It changed me, my blood fought and the vampire blood outweighed the Fae blood. I became the strongest creature known in the whole entire Supe world! I killed thousands, millions and nothing could stop me!" He paused. "And I want that same fate for you because we are death. _This_ is the destiny we are supposed to have: to stand before every other race and be Gods above them."

"That is not what we are supposed to be!" I hissed through my teeth.

"My sweet girl, you have not seen the world as I have. There are millions that would want you dead, there are and you don't even know it. The closest one is that of your family that you haven't seen since birth. He wanted to kill you so Sookie could have a normal life. Now, is that something you want to do? Do you want to die?"

"W-What are you talking about?"

"Your true relative wants nothing from you because he fears you and he isn't the only one." Malakai growled deeply. "The one you love doesn't want anything to do with you. I could make that go away, Sook. I could give you what you desire."

"Y-You're lying."

"Even you know that I am not. You got to talk to him and he told you straight to your face that it is Sookie he wants, not you. He loves Sookie. He wants nothing to do with you."

I felt tears collect in my eyes but I wouldn't let them fall. "You're wrong."

"Oh, you want to test that theory, my love?"

"Stop calling me that." I whispered, turning my head away.

"But it is true. I love you and I am in love with_ you_. The girl that is lying on the floor just right there," Malakai pointed at Sookie. "Is nothing but a shell of what they created through the spell. It should never have happened, because if they didn't, she wouldn't exist. That would be_ your_ body, Sook. That would be your life and maybe, Eric would have loved you then."

"Shut up." I said deadly. "Sookie is me and I am her."

"No," He laughed. "That is what you have been telling yourself. The loneliness that you both feel –you believe-is because you are not connected the way it should have been." He sighed. "You would have been her and there would have been no room for what you call Sookie. If you had her body, if the spell never was created, then you wouldn't have to deal with the human tendencies that Sookie has. You would have been far above them, humans I mean. That is what I was showing you. Though she cares and loves Eric, she was still attracted to me and let me touch and kiss her. No, the loneliness you feel is not being able to be in control of yourself and that travels on to Sookie because she is feeling your emotions." He paused. "Now, when will you start to realize that?"

"Never. She is real, Sookie is real."

"It was an imaginary human girl that they created, hiding you-the one that should have been out-in your own darkness. You see, you are the one that holds most of the fairy and vampire powers. It was part of the spell. Sookie cannot bring light forth through her hands, but she got a magical gift from the spell as it backfired. She has a mind-reading ability. It created two beings, this spell did and that is never good."

"Why isn't it?"

"Because it made her real, in a sense. She feels pain, sadness, happiness and every other emotion. It created her and now you are both struggling for surface and she is winning. She has your body, your heart, your man, and your family."

"I will not listen to this." I was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Everything I believed…no, I wouldn't fall into his trap.

"You must see reason, Sook. Do you like the fact that she is living your life? That she gets to touch people? She gets to touch Eric?"

My eyes trembled. "No."

"That is what I was saying, from the beginning. You are jealous of her, of a person that shouldn't have even existed." Malakai shook his head.

"But she does…now. Sookie is real."

"As I have said, she is real in a sense." He nodded in agreement. "But you are still you and you have the power to take over. All you have to do is try and when the transformation begins, I can give you the power that I have."

"W-What?" My head snapped up. "What are you saying?"

"You can kill Sookie and you will if you do as I ask. All you have to do is hide her inside your own body, if she is in there for a long period of time, she will fade away." He smirked. "When you come forth you will be in control once more, to do whatever you please, but that isn't the transformation they believe will happen. They are wrong in that. They believe that the transformation is when the spell will break, it isn't that. The transformation will and always was supposed to be when your vampire blood and fae blood begin battle and someone that loves you, will come along to bite you and turn you into whatever they desire."

"So, you're saying that I am just a tool for molding into whatever the person that bites me wants?"

"You were created from a magical tool. What else did you think would happen?" He laughed. "Everything backfires in some way; everything has a darker side to a glimmer of desires people have."

"You…you want me to kill Sookie?"

"You have the power to do that, yes. All you need to do is fully take over, finish breaking the spell that binds you, push her deep inside for a while and she will just fade away as I have said before. I can help you do that."

"What would happen, if someone killed me while I had control of the body Sookie and I share?"

"Then you would die and Sookie would live." He paused. "It is rather complicated, but I know these things. I have…a way about knowing the unknown."

"Then," I thought quickly. "Then, I want to do it. I want to take back my body because it always belonged to me and me alone."

"Very good choice." Malakai smiled. His eyes gleamed a bright red then, the green hues faded away to replace something much more frightening. "And when the transformation begins, I will be there to bite you and wish upon my own desire for you to be as strong as me and to rule the world at my side." He leaned in and kissed me, and the blood mixed fully.

My heart thundered in my chest, Sookie-who was lying on the floor-lifted up and began to fade before she came flying into my chest, to my soul. My back arched, the chains rattled as my own eyes bled red.

The next thing I knew was that I was laying back on Sookie's bed…err…my bed. I blinked, sitting up quickly, I ran to the mirror. My eyes were bright red, so deep in color that scared me more than anything. I trembled.

I knew what I had to do. I slipped on sandals that were lying just by the door before I ran down the stairs, passed the old woman Sookie called her Gran and out into the night. I was stopped though, by no other than Bill Compton.

"You must come with me; now that I have you all alone, small girl." He laughed.

"Oh and where would I be going?" I asked, not looking at him.

"I am to procure you for my queen and I must take you now." He moved suddenly, his arms wrapped around my waist and lifted me off the ground.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I don't think so."

I shifted in his grasp, pushing him away from me to hold out my right hand. Light began to emanate from it, so powerful and strong. I felt a rush, making me feel more alive than I had ever been, trapped in my own soul. If I was going to do one thing, it was to get rid of this asshole.

Bill screamed as my light touched him, but I didn't stop there. I rushed my hand out hard and pushed it through his chest, just to pull out as quickly, holding his heart in my hands. It began to turn to ash before me.

"W-What are you?" He whispered; his eyes wide with fright.

"I am death and I can't change that, no matter how hard I try." I watched as his body disappeared before my very eyes, but I didn't give it much thought as I turned and ran through the forest.

I got there quicker than I ever thought. I was fast, so very fast. I threw the door open to the bar and watched as everyone's head turned to look at me. Vampires were there and they all stood as they saw my eye color, but I really didn't care. It would all change tonight.

I went to his office and kicked the door open.

"Sookie?" Eric stood. "What the hell-"

"Don't talk." I bit out harshly.

"Y-You're not…." He stopped, his eyes narrowing. "Sook." That one word, that hateful and scared gaze on his face made it all real. He would never want me, even if this was supposed to be my body. It just made everything seem much easier to deal with in the end.

"Yeah, it's me." I bit out, feeling like I was finally losing control of the barrier of the spell. "I need one thing from you before this spell breaks from me being free."

"Oh, and what is that?" He spoke scornfully.

"I need you to kill me so Sookie can have my body, right now." Everything went quiet as his eyes widened in what looked like horror. "She will live, I promise you. You need to do it, _now_. Stake me."

Before he could even open his mouth, my head began to thump wildly. I gripped my temples, falling down to the floor in a heap. My body convulsed harshly as I hissed.

_You naughty, naughty girl you._ Malakai's voice entered my own mind. He was connected to me already?

"Sook? What's the matter?" Eric grabbed my shoulders, attempting to pick me up from convulsing.

_Did you really think I would allow that to happen?_

**Shut up.** I hissed in my own mind.

_Looks like I will have no use for you. I must go after Sookie if my plan is to work, it seems. Say goodbye to your lover, Sook._

"No!" I screamed as I began to fade away, back into the darkness of the void.

* * *

><p><strong>Sookie's POV:<strong>

"Sook?" Oddly enough, I heard Eric's voice.

"Eric?" I blinked, opening my eyes to find him kneeling over me.

"S-Sookie?"

"What…just happened?" I asked, a terrible headache thumping my brain into mush.

"I really have no idea." He said, cursing something in his native tongue.

**Shit! **

My mind whispered out of nowhere and I had to agree. Why don't I remember squat? Most importantly; what is happening to me?


	11. Nightmare

**Author's Notes:** Hello dear readers!

I am back with another chapter, and I do hope you enjoy this one! It took me quite a while to write it.

**Short notes-**

Sook's thoughts/speech: _**Bold Italic**_

Shadow Man aka Malakai's thoughts/speech: _Italic_

I don't want any of you to get confused, so therefore I shall post that in every chapter, when thoughts and words are being spoken. Sometimes they are different, but hopefully you read the AN's to not get lost. Lol.

Thanks so much for all of your support.

**Extra Special Thanks:** My dear friend Krystle, aka, BDO, has made a BEAUTIFUL banner for this story, and I absolutely adore it! Once I put it on my wordpress, and profile page, you should all check it out. I should have it up within a day or two. It is just AWESOME!

I own nothing, nada, zip, zilch!

XOXO-SharaMoon

* * *

><p>I rocked back and forth; unable to think clearly about anything and yet, my mind was racing. My chest was tight, I felt like I couldn't breathe. Too many things going on at once, and I didn't understand a single one. I felt wrong—there was something horribly wrong with me.<p>

The room was dark, and I kept seeing shadows that weren't really there. Was it possible to go insane at the age of twenty-one? Well, of course it was, and at this moment, I was sure I was going crazy.

Bugs—bugs crawling all over my skin….I could feel them, but couldn't see them.

My hands found their way to my head. It pounded harshly, sending me into a wave of nausea. I was going to throw up, but before that happened, I would surely die.

Something had happened, something I had caused, but I didn't know what it was. Something told me that I did something bad that set something in motion. I was lost, more lost than I had ever been before.

Chains—chains were holding me down, cutting into my wrists. I could feel it, the burning and shifting, but nothing was _there_. Chains weren't around my wrists. Why would I feel something like this? Why was I being tortured by something I _couldn't see_?

The shadows were back. They shifted around my room at incredible speeds. Two of them—only two shadows. It was like they were dancing a deadly number. One trying to dominate, the other desperately trying to get away, but it couldn't. The shadow…it was chained.

_You know you had this coming._

_**Stay away from me!**_

The shadows argued back and forth in front of me. It reminded me of bickering that two people would have, except on a whole different level. The voices; one was female and the other was male. The female sounded so much like my own voice, and…the male, his voice was familiar as well.

The taller shadow moved again, the male. I could identify it now. The shape was that of a male and it was heading over to the female. She shrunk down on her knees as the male grabbed her hair. The room—my room echoed with a shrill scream. Smaller specks of shadows splattered against the wall, like blood. I could almost smell the coppery scent.

Pushing my hands to my ears, I moved rocked faster. I couldn't listen to the screams. They were too horrible—much too horrible. I felt tears fall down my cheeks, heavy tears. I was crying for the woman.

"Stop…stop, stop, STOP!" I cried, trying desperately to help.

But they were merely shadows, shadows that were clearly haunting me for reasons unknown to me.

_**Please…please let me go**_**.** The female whispered, her shadow slinking down the wall.

_I will never let you go. You are much too valuable. You were such a bad girl._ The male denied the female's request.

_**STOP!**_

"Don't hurt her!" I couldn't help but yell. I would do almost anything to make her screaming stop.

_Do you see? She cares for you…she cares so much about the pain you are inflicted with. _

_**Don't you d-dare even try to put her into this situation. **_

_Why not? She will be very useful to me, once I can call her. _

_**Bastard!**_

What were they talking about? Who were they speaking of? Was it me?

I couldn't be too sure.

The screaming was back. He was hurting the woman, torturing her, and I could see it. Though they were merely shadows, I could almost see what he was doing to the poor shadowy woman's body. More shadow blood splashed against my wall, and the screams only went to a higher pitch.

I didn't know what to do. I felt like a mere child, unable to stop the pain. I could only watch, only cry in utter horror and disgust. I couldn't take this. I couldn't stomach the screams, the pain, and hatred. I didn't want to see this. Why was God punishing me this way? It was the only explanation.

"Please, just…just stop." I whispered again.

_**Wake up, Sookie! Wake up!**_ The woman cried, trying to make it to my bed where I sat stiff.

She was crawling, on her hands and knees only to be drug back by the male shadow. I could _hear _her fingernails scraping against my hardwood floor. She wanted me to wake up? But how could I be dreaming something that was so _real_?

I shook my head fast, watching the shadow woman be thrown against the wall. The male stepped forward, somehow connecting his body to hers. He ran a shadowy dark hand across her face, and she cringed away from his touch. He didn't like that and had caused him to slap her. The crash echoed in my ears forever, replaying over and over again.

_How touching. Even I am shocked by how much…you care for each other's wellbeing, and she doesn't even know who you are. I bet she is just a kind soul, what do you think?_ _Perhaps, I can break her as I am doing to you?_

_**No! Don't touch her!**_

_Ah, come now. I don't want to hurt her. I just want to break that little shred of sanity that is left in her. That way, she will be much easier to fall into my clutches. _

_**She has done nothing to deserve this! Leave her in peace! Leave me in peace! We want nothing to do with you!**_

The male slapped her again, harder this time. I watched the female shadow fall to the ground, unmoving for the first time. She wasn't fighting, wasn't screaming, wasn't talking—wasn't _moving_. No, no, she had to move! I knew that she was somehow protecting me from the shadowy man, somehow guarding me, and keeping me out of his evil hands! She_ had_ to move!

The shadowy man turned to look at me. I watched him shift, his body turning in my direction. I slunk back as far as I could in the bed. Terror was laced through my entire body, leaving me unable to move or even scream in fright.

_She is very caring of you, you know. I have no idea why, since…it is really just her body. If I were in her shoes, I would be trying to kill you, to regain what was mine. You poor human, so many things you do not know, and probably will not know for a while. _

"She…she's not moving!" My voice was found, in the most wrong moment.

_No, she is not moving, but she isn't dead, if that is what you think. She has merely taken too much of my wrath and needed to sleep. Shh, it's alright. I won't hurt you, I promise. I just want you…I want you to come to me, Sookie. I want you to release me. _

The urge was strong to heed his request. So very strong that I wasn't sure I could take it. I wanted to fight against whatever it was that he held over me, because I simply didn't want to be involved with this…shadow man in any way.

"L-Leave us alone." I told him. "Leave her be, and leave me."

_Oh, are you talking as if you are both connected as well? I cannot tell you anything that I know about you, since I am not allowed, but it rather funny that you would speak in plural as she does at times. Quite odd in a way. _

"You can't touch me. My friend, he will protect me.

The shadow man laughed shrilly. _I don't believe he has the strength to stop me. I am six-thousand years old, and he is merely a thousand at best. Besides, I am not a normal vampire in the slightest. You can fight against me now, but you will break sooner or later. I know_.

"Don't—don't come near me!"

I screamed as he took a step and then another one. His features began to unfold before my eyes, and I saw blood red. His eyes were so dark, so…evil. Terrified wouldn't even describe how I was feeling at the moment. I wanted to get away, but I couldn't. I simply couldn't move.

Just then, behind the shadow man, the woman stirred. Hopping up to her feet, she rushed the shadow man, hopping on his back. He fought against her hold.

_**Wake up! You have to wake up, NOW! **_ She screamed in my direction.

Finally, a sliver of light began to show outside the doorway. She jerked her head in that direction. Somehow, I knew that was my way out—out my bedroom door. My muscles began to work, relaxing enough to allow me to stand. I ran for the door, missing the shadowy man's grasp by mere inches.

Yanking the door open, warm air gushed out at me. I sighed, as every shadow began to fade from my view, and the terror in my heart began to lessen. My vision blurred until I could no longer see because of the blinding light ahead of me.

With much force, my body heaved forward and I gasped. Sweat was pouring from my body, my hair was matted and knotted against my neck, tears simply fell from my eyes because I couldn't stop them, and I wasn't alone in my room.

Gran was sitting on the bed next to me, her arms tightly around my shoulders as if she had been shaking me. Off to the side, kneeling beside my bed, Eric sat. His eyes were wide, much like my Gran's. They shared a look before turning their gazes in my direction.

"What on God's Green Earth were you dreaming about?" Gran's voice was shaky. "You were screaming bloody murder, Sookie."

"Are you alright?" Eric grabbed my arms, making me turn to look at him. He grabbed my chin, turning it from side to side. "What happened? Sookie, you were so terrified."

"Nightmare," I gasped, more tears falling from my eyes. "Such a very bad nightmare. Two shadow people, one female and the other male. The woman…she was trying to protect me, but was being tortured by the man. She kept telling him to' leave us alone' and he would just say that he would get me, that I would…break sooner or later." I looked at them both, trying to not sound as crazy as I thought I was at the moment. "It was _real_, it felt real. I don't know what to do, she…she's going to be tortured some more, and it's my entire fault."

"How is it your fault, sweetie?" Gran's calming voice tried to pacify me, but it wouldn't work.

"I don't know. I did something. I caused it. She's in pain, because of me. This," I motioned to my own body. "He said it had been hers all along. He said that if he were her, he would kill me to take back what was his. He—the shadow man…he wants something from me."

"What does he want? What does he look like, Sookie?" Eric's voice was rushed now.

"He was a shadow man, but all I could see was his eyes. Red—glowing red eyes." I gulped back what I believed to be vomit. "He wants me to…to…_release_ him."

Eric stiffened before he moved. He came up behind me, looking at Gran in an odd way. She sighed, nodding before she got up from the bed. I closed my eyes as she kissed my forehead and then she exited the room all together.

Eric pulled me back against his chest, folding his arms around my midsection. For once, I felt relief. The tears would not stop flowing, but I didn't try to make them stop. I was beyond upset from what my nightmare had been. It was burnt in the back of my skull, my brain.

"I'm here," Eric murmured against my hair. "I won't let anything hurt you."

"He…said he was six thousand years old, Eric. He said that you were no match for him because he wasn't…a normal vampire."

"Doesn't matter," He whispered, comforting, "I would protect you with my life, if it came down to it."

"I won't let you get killed because of me!" And then a thought popped into my head, one that…was rather odd. "Eric, why are you acting as if this was more than a dream?"

For quite a few moments, the room was dead silent. He finally spoke, and I barely heard it. "It terrified you; therefore, I will fight off your nightmares because you believe they are real and…" He paused, as if he wanted to go on, but couldn't.

"Please, please finish what you were going to say." I whispered, leaning into his body more.

"I will hear so much crap for this tomorrow night…" Is what it sounded like to me. "Sookie, I believe…that wasn't a dream at all."

My eyes tightened slightly, because I knew somehow that nightmare wasn't that at all. It was reality.

"I'm different." I whispered, changing the subject. "I don't know how I know that, but I do now. Something…something is wrong inside of me."

"Nothing is wrong with you." He spoke, kind of harsh as if I somehow hurt him with my words.

"How…how am I different, Eric?"

He struggled, freezing up behind me. I could feel his body tense. "Don't worry about that tonight, Sookie. Get some sleep."

"I c-can't." I whimpered, shivering. "I don't want to close my eyes. I'm afraid."

"I'm right here. I won't let anything hurt you. I promise." He murmured, kissing my hair.

I wanted to fight him on it, because I knew he couldn't fight off the terrors when I closed my eyes, but a voice came back to me. One that sounded so much like my own—the shadow woman.

_**Trust Eric. He will protect you, and so will I. Go to sleep, Sookie. I promise that I will not let him hurt you the way he has me. **_

"You're alright." I whispered; my eyes falling closed.

"Hmm?" Eric asked, but I shook my head.

_**I'm fine for now. Takes more than that to really hurt me.**_ I distinctly heard a chuckle, but it was forced. She was hurt, whoever she was, and not only hurt, but in so much pain.

"I'm so sorry…for everything." Was the last thing I said, before I drifted to sleep; into a much calmer dream.


	12. Bringing her forth again

**Author's Notes:** It has been far too long.

Sorry about the delay, but I had troubles with my laptop. It crashed, and I lost everything. I'm not going to ramble on about everything, but I do hope you forgive me, and I do hope I still have readers. :)

Now that is over and done with—Hello! I've missed you all! :P

I won't take up your time, so go on and read—if anyone is left that is. Lol!

I own nothing, nada, zip, zilch!

XOXO-SharaMoon

* * *

><p>The council met where it all began. Cloaked figures lined the walls. Some were in seats, around a giant table, but some—lesser supes—just stayed off to the side to watch, and not be heard.<p>

We met once a year, to talk about the growth of Sookie. It was needed. The council was there when it first started, what the whole mess was about, and they were entitled to see where it went—where Sookie went in life.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell them about the new developments Sookie had, such as Sook. Niall had kept that information quiet for some time, only telling a few people what happened that night when Sook came out into the open, because I had called her.

But I needed to tell them of that information, because I needed to bring her forth again. As dangerous as that was, since Sook could come out and stay out if she wished it, I felt like I needed to. There was something missing, something I felt, and it was that Niall was keeping secrets. For Sookie's own good? I wasn't sure, but I would find out.

I sat at the end of the long table, and directly across from me was Niall. He looked at me oddly, silently questioning what I was thinking about. Like I would ever tell him. Pam sat to my left, on the corner. She knew of what I had planned. I never kept anything from her, like I could anyway. She always was able to get inside of my mind and figure me out. It is what I liked about her to begin with.

The other cloaked figures sat silently, waiting for the update that either I or Niall would give. And this was my year. I was going to tell them of Sookie's alter ego Sook.

"Where to begin?" Niall said cheerfully.

"Don't sound so happy," I scolded.

His eyes narrowed, and he silently shook his head. I held my chin up, my eyes falling away from his own.

"There is something we kept from the council." I spoke, and then there were whispers. "Yes, we had kept something from you. I advise you to get over it." I rolled my eyes, and stood. "There really is nowhere to begin with this, so I shall just get to the point. When we put the spell over Sookie to keep her vampire half hidden, it created another part inside of her. Practically two people, fighting for surface in one body. Sookie has an alter ego, who is very much alive, and goes by the name Sook."

"What is this blasphemy?" Colonel Flood nearly yelled; his head turning directly toward Niall.

"Not blasphemy, if we want to get down to it. We did it to ourselves. There are two people in Sookie's soul—herself and then there is Sook." I sighed. "But that is not the reason why I am telling you this. Quite frankly, I would have kept it my own little secret if it hadn't been for Sookie's nightmare a few months ago. In this nightmare, she spoke of a shadow man torturing Sook. Not herself, her alter ego. Sookie also said that this shadow man wanted something from her. Council," I looked around. "I need permission to release Sook to find out what had happened."

"And you believe this is more than a dream? Not just a silly pigment of her subconscious?" Another council member spoke.

"I do believe it was more than a dream." I nodded.

"Eric, bringing her out could only make Sookie trade places with her! No!" Niall stood, slamming his hands on the table. "We cannot lose the ground we have!"

"We will lose that ground anyway when the transformation begins! And yes, you all know about the transformation, which we all knew was on the horizon. It's only a few short months away now, and we cannot just wait. I need to know what Sook knows. We all do."

"And who is this shadow man?" Russell Edgington asked, leaning forward.

"Do you want my guess?" I asked, cocking my head to the side. He nodded. "I believe it is a vampire, and the oldest one I have ever heard of. Sookie mentioned an age—six thousand."

"Insanity!" A woman hollered from the back. "The oldest that was ever known was five thousand! If there was a vampire that was six thousand years old, I think we would all know who it was!"

I nodded. "Fair enough, but I do believe that…._something_ old is toying around with both Sookie and Sook. If you will not agree to let me find out, I will do so anyway. I will go against this council, because their life might be endangered."

"Eric, you have no idea what you are messing with." Niall whispered almost silently.

"Then by all means, tell me what you know."

"I know…nothing." He finally whispered after a few moments of silent. "We need to just let the transformation happen, and see what we need to do afterward. Going to look for things…isn't in the best interest for anyone."

I turned away from him. "I need an answer. I know I have kept things hidden from this council, but that is neither here nor there. Once I have what I acquire, I shall share the rest of what I know. Will you give me what I want, or shall I just take it instead?"

No one spoke for a few minutes. Everything had gone dead silent.

"All in favor of granting…." Russell asked the council, and more than half raised their hands.

I nodded in acceptance and headed for the stairs of the underground dome where all our meetings were held. As I reached the top, Niall stepped up behind me.

"Eric, you mustn't. We do not know if this will be a good thing…"

"I did this for you, you know. Because I owed you, I got involved in this whole scheme." I mused lightly. "I believed we had no secrets between us." I turned around and looked at him somberly. "When I find out what you are keeping from me—of all people—I will not take it so lightly."

"You have no reason to hate me. If you believe it or not, I am doing all I can to keep Sookie safe! Trust me on that."

"How can I trust, when I know there is more to this than you are letting on?" I asked, stepping forward. "I know you know something."

"Do not meddle in dangerous waters. What you want to learn could possibly get Sookie killed."

"You are definitely one to talk. If you told her everything, if you let me tell her everything, we could keep her more safe!" I growled. "Do not preach to me about keeping her safe. She knows she is different, she just doesn't know why or how she is different. How is that keeping her safe? Because you have me watching over her house every night? If this shadow man exists and he is six thousand years old, no one can stop him! You are playing with fire, you are playing with Sookie's life, and I will not tolerate it."

Niall caught me off guard as he smiled softly. "You love her so dearly."

"Are you happy about that? That I love your Granddaughter more than my own life? It's what you wanted. You wanted me to find happiness here, and I did, even when I didn't think I would. I've lived for a thousand years of not having that. And let me tell you, Niall," I smirked deadly. "If I lose that, for your lies and secrets, I will kill you. Nothing else matters anymore except Sookie."

And with that, I took to the sky.

I flew fast toward Sookie's house, making it there within a few hours. My best record yet. I had a mission to do, and I needed to get it done. In a way, I knew Sook would listen to me, if I asked her to go back into the darkened void she had spoken of before. She cared for more than just me. She cared for Sookie's health as well, and clearly, Sookie cares for Sook.

If I could do anything for Sookie, it would be to make her feel safe within her own body, and I guess that meant I needed to keep Sook safe as well. If Sookie cared for her other half, then I had to make Sook a priority as well, even if I didn't like it. Even if that meant Sook would take over when the transformation began. If I can stop it, I will—even if that meant killing Sook tonight.

Sookie sat on her bed, obviously just getting out of the shower. Her legs were folded under herself, brushing her hair. I groaned as I noticed she was only wearing a towel, but I could not wait for her to get dressed. I hopped through her window.

"Eric!" She shrieked, turning around to throw a pillow at me.

I caught it, tossing it away from me with ease. "Sookie, relax. It is not like I have never seen you in nothing but a towel before."

"That was when I was eight, Eric. I think I grew a bit since then."

I rolled my eyes at her embarrassment. I wanted to tell her she had nothing to be embarrassed by. She had the body of a goddess. But now wasn't the time for that. I had more pressing matters to deal with at the moment. I stepped over toward her.

"I need to do something, and I need you to trust me."

"Uh…Eric?" Her voice trembled as I stepped so very close to the bed.

"Relax," I spoke again, much softer this time. "Trust me?"

I watched her gulp, watched her breasts heave underneath the towel. It was utter torture, but in a different way. I wanted to forget it all, rip it off, and claim her as mine. The need was strong.

"Y-Yes, I trust you."

I nodded and leaned over her. I used the same hand as before, swiping quickly against her palm. Blood boiled to the surface, and I watched Sookie's face change slightly. I knew it worked.

"Kom." I whispered.

Sookie's body heaved forward. She shuttered in my already waiting grasp. Her heart started to slow until it beat very slowly. I almost couldn't hear it. Her temperature dropped once again, and I closed my eyes and willed away all that was inside of me until I became emotionless.

"Well, well, well, looks like you called me once again Mr. Northman." Sook's voice was raw, as she tried to joke. "Oh, it must have been some fun you both were about to have? Since I'm rather…indisposed. You called. Was Sookie not _putting_ out?"

"No fun and games, Sook. I need to know who and what this shadow man is." I told her, pushing her back up.

She felt to the sheets limply, but not to mess with my head like before, like the first time I met her. She looked weak, her eyes glazed over as her brows furrowed in a painful way. She hissed delicately, as she reached for her stomach.

"He is very angry at me, Eric." Sook whispered.

"Who is _he_?" I growled.

"His name is Malakai, and he is exactly what Sookie and I are."

"Impossible, Sook, you are the first of your kind!"

She sat up quickly, grabbing my shirt roughly. She pulled me closer to her face as she snarled.

"That is what I believed as well, but no, he is exactly what Sookie and I are. He is a new breed, but his vampire side was never forced away like you all did to me! The transformation is not what you think it is, Eric. The transformation is something totally different. Sookie and I will go through a transformation, but it was always supposed to happen anyway. You simply changed it."

"What are you talking about?"

I ripped her hands away from my shirt quickly, and she fell from the bed onto her knees. Sook hissed once more. It broke into a cough as she spasmed below me. I looked at her hands, smelling blood, and my eyes widened. She had coughed up so much blood that it dripped from her hands onto the floor below her. But that wasn't all I saw.

Bruises marred every inch of her flesh—deep purple and green welts. There were also cuts, and I watched them begin to form on her body; skin simply peeling away from skin—_ripping_. They began to slowly bleed. There was one on her neck, a few on each arm, and a bunch on each leg. Her head turned up—the bruises and cuts were there as well.

"I don't have much time to explain it to you. You see all these cuts and bruises?" She asked sarcastically. "If it wasn't for me taking all the blows, Sookie would look exactly like me right now. Would be kind of hard to explain what is hurting her, when she can't see it."

"But she knows she is different! And she knows about you! Maybe not a lot, but she does. She knows there was a shadow man torturing you. Do you not understand the severity of this?"

"Do I not know? Please, Eric, save that drama for someone that gives a flying fuck. I've been doing all I can to keep her safe. You may not believe—"

I cut her off. "I do believe you are doing everything in your best interest to keep her safe, but I don't understand _why_."

Sook looked up at me, with so much intelligence in her gaze. She fell back against the corner of the bed and chuckled without humor.

"It was my body you know." She whispered. "I was supposed to be in control. Sookie would have never existed if you didn't put the spell over us. It created a human, Eric. You created a person within my body who had full control. It was never meant to be."

"Stop with the rambling."

"You might have loved_ me_." She whispered as if I wasn't meant to hear it.

Her eyes closed painfully, and for the first time, I bent down to comfort her. She was in pain, and I was quite aware that Sookie might be as well. But I stopped, right before my hand touched her shoulder.

"Is she safe?"

"Sookie, you mean?" She rolled her eyes after opening her lids. "She is perfectly safe at the moment. But it is another reason why I can't be out for long. Shame on you," She wiggled her finger, "for bringing me forth when you definitely shouldn't have."

"Why?"

"He could have access to her mind fully now. If I just gave in, he would have her."

"The shadow man? The one like you?"

"You didn't know?" She whispered. "You didn't know he existed, right?"

I gulped slowly. "No, I honestly didn't, but that doesn't help me. What can I do?"

"There is nothing you can do right now." She shrugged. "The transformation will begin in a few months from now."

"You said there was always going to be a transformation?" I asked. "What is it?"

Sook took a deep breath and began. "This might not be exactly how it works, since Sookie and I we're separated." She warned and I nodded. She continued, "The Fae and Vampire blood will no longer mix. It will begin battling. And when it does, someone that loves Sookie has to bite her, and _wish _her into what that person wants her to be. If they want her to be good, then so be it, she will be good. If they choose evil, she will be evil. Whatever the person that loves her wishes for her to become, she will become. Do you get it?"

"And I cannot kill you, to just let Sookie have her life? You wanted me to before, at my bar."

She looked up with a scowl etched in her features. "You really have no remorse for me, do you? When all I ever wanted was your love? Sometimes, you know, I want to give in. Do as Malakai wants, and claim what was _rightfully _mine. Do you realize that? How easy it would be for me to just let Sookie die? You shouldn't tempt me."

"You wouldn't. You care for her."

Sook was quiet for a few moments. "It wouldn't work anymore anyway. He found a loophole in that, and changed the plan. But you are right. I care for her, because no matter what he says, she is a part of me, as much as I am of her. And I want it to stay that way."

"It may not be possible." I told her.

She spasmed again, gripping onto my wrists with strength I hardly ever felt. She hissed loudly, growling as a newly formed cut appeared across her chest, right above the towel she was in. It bled heavily.

"I doubt it will be possible regardless, Eric." She whispered, her voice shaking.

"Why?"

"Because you seem to be unable to love us both."


	13. Diary dreams

**Author's Notes:** Hello again!

So since it has been far, far too long, I decided to give you all a gift. Yes, yes, a gift! You get two chapters right now! YAY! :P

I do hope you enjoy them.

I own nothing, nada, zip, zilch!

XOXO-SharaMoon

* * *

><p><strong>Niall's POV:<strong>

Two weeks before Transformation:

_In my wildest years, I never thought it would come to this. _

_Fear was one great and dangerous thing to have, when you have such an outstanding grandchild, and I cannot tell you how much I am truly frightened. It isn't good. _

_I have received your letter, and have been thinking quite rapidly of the new found information. Yes, he hasn't spoken, or has awoken from whatever slumber state he is in at the moment. Is that good news? I'm not so sure, and neither are you. _

_You can no longer see any future in that place, and I'm not technically sure why. Your words were: 'There is something about that place. I have no idea if I am looking into the future, past, or present. No time runs there any longer'. Does that mean that he will surely die? _

_Is that the end of the monstrous vampire fairy hybrid? _

_Would it be the same to my granddaughter? Living in a tomb until finally she goes in a state of unconsciousness where she shall slumber for centuries? Again, I am not sure. We have no idea how long he shall remain in that state, or even if we are being thrown off. It has only been a few months he has slept without waking. But is he really asleep? _

_There are so many questions, and yes, I quite fully understand that you cannot answer them. It's hard on an old fairy such as myself, having to deal with all these riddles before us with no way of solving them. It's frustrating for you as well correct? _

_Ancient One, I guess we have reached the end of the line, if you cannot see what will become of my Granddaughter, or of the development of Malakai. _

_We've collected quite a bit of information when you examined him, such as he can also feed on other vampires. I am sorry you lost your one guard on that one, when you first arrived there. It was unfortunate, but he did collect what we needed to know—Malakai gets strength from almost any species it seems. If he can feed on a vampire, and gain strength from it as if the prey was human, I am most certain that it would work the same as if it was any Supernatural's blood. _

_He is also impossibly strong, and I am glad that you at least were able to close the prison cell before he could make it out. But being near food for the first time in what seemed like forever for him, must have gained his full attention for quite a few seconds. _

_What you have done, has been a great deed for me, and I hope to one day repay you. No matter what becomes of my granddaughter Sookie, I shall be forever in your debt for at least trying. _

_Eric has become suspicious as of late, and he did the unthinkable. He had contacted Sook, the alter ego in Sookie's soul once more. He brought her forth, and questioned her. _

_Eric knows of Malakai, and he knows what he is. Eric hasn't spoken to me since the day he stormed his way through the Fae Portal outside Sookie's home. It was quite astonishing to watch, really, since he had made it through with enough strength left to kill two of my more qualified guard. I could not truly be angry with him, even as he had his hand around my throat. _

_I was sure I would die that day, with the look of such hatred in his eyes. He knew I had kept the secret from him, and to be honest, I don't think I should have anymore. _

_One person, I know who I can rely on would be Eric. He would die for Sookie before anything could harm her, but I still am not sure that it is even possibly to hide it from her much longer. And when she finds out, I am not sure how she will take the news of her true identity. _

_All I can really say is that I failed. _

_Yes, I failed as a grandfather, as a father, as ruler, and as a friend to many. _

_I have lied, and I have kept secrets. _

_I regret it. I regret it all. _

_And I am afraid._

Shaking my head, I crumpled the page and threw it into the fire with more force than truly necessary. I watched as the flames licked the page before it burnt to nothing but ash as the bottom of the fireplace.

My words were just my own thoughts, and not all of them needed to be spoken. No, I shall keep my own self-hatred to myself, and hopefully be able to go forth, and still be strong.

Picking up another sheet of parchment, I scrawled the words: _Thank you for your effort, Ancient One. I understand that you can no longer help us in this case. Truly, your efforts were great, and I owe you my life for trying. –Niall. _

Snapping my fingers, a fairy woman stepped forward, and held out her hands in waiting. Delicately, I placed the letter in her hands, and told her where it needed to go. In just a few short seconds she had teleported away with it, and also taking my hope for everything to turn out okay with her.

**Sookie's POV:**

Ever since I last passed out I have been jumpy—more so than I normally am. I tried not to think about it, but the memory of me waking up with Eric leaning over me was something else.

I flushed, I remembered, because I was somehow dressed into the nightgown I had laying on my desk. Eric had dressed me in what I had been wearing. A long white linen nightgown.

Those memories weren't the only thing I had left over. I knew something had happened by the way Eric had looked at me. He did something to my body before I passed out, I just couldn't—for the life of me—remember what it was.

What could he have possibly done to make me pass out?

I mean, he is a vampire. I bet he would be capable of doing a lot of things. But one thing I knew for sure he couldn't do was glamour me. That was a given.

It was stressful for a few weeks after that night, since I knew something was wrong with me. My body felt…different, and even now, it still does.

What caught me most of guard was for the fact that I seemed to lose patience rather easily. Before I knew what I was doing, I was snapping at people left and right, feeling really, really bitter inside. My emotions seemed to just go on overdrive, and I haven't been able to stop or slow them down.

No one wanted to be around me.

That was the hardest thing. I lost my job because I was unable to keep up with the work since I was tired all the time, I lost my friends since I had been snapping and yelling for no reason, and even my own family became distant, but I didn't understand why.

Jason was off doing bigger and better things—or as he liked to call it—and Gran seemed to try to avoid me at all costs. The problem was, in that little scenario, was for the fact that we lived in the same house. Not a very big one either, and therefore, she had to talk to me so often. She just seemed scared of me—no, not scared _of _me, but _for_ me—if that made any sense.

The only people that were still there for me, who didn't seem too weird lately, weren't technically people at all. Eric, Pam, and Thalia—Vampires. I hadn't been around Thalia a lot in the past, but she started to come by the house, and even once she had spoken somewhat kindly.

She said; 'You're a lot like me. _Misunderstood_. The only difference is that I don't want people around me, when you want the opposite'.

Yeah, I wasn't quite sure what that meant, but I had an idea. She seemed to be popular now since the vampires came out. I heard that she had her own fan page—not that I have seen it of course.

I guess she was right though. She wanted everyone to just leave her be, while I wanted to be surrounded with what I used to have, and that was family—the sense of belonging somewhere. That changed, and I couldn't understand why. The loneliness was…_harder_, and more a focal point of my mind now. It was slowly eating away at me, piece by piece. There would be nothing left of me soon.

But slowly, I began to remember things. Things that I somehow went through, but I couldn't have. I just didn't remember them, meaning that they couldn't be _real_.

And it first took form in dreams, and I had kept a diary of it—a dream diary, as I liked to call it.

As I thought about it, I grabbed the diary. Till this day, I haven't reread what I wrote every time I woke up frightened in the last few months, but something inside told me that if I just reread everything, that I might know the secrets I've been searching for. But really, what secrets?

I shook my head and opened to the first page.

_Dear Diary, _

_I had a dream and one I hope to never have again. _

_There was nothing around me, only darkness. I was somehow floating, suspended, in this darkness that was so black, and so cold. It frightened me, being in this darkness. I was vaguely aware that I had been here before. It was like I was trapped, and all I wanted to do was scream out for help. _

_Dear Diary, _

_The dreams are getting worse. The darkness is suffocating. _

_Dear Diary, _

_It wasn't darkness this time. My dream had taken me to a place where a woman was, and she looked exactly like me! She could have been my twin! She had spoken, but I couldn't hear the words that were coming out of her mouth. It was like she was a mute, unable to actually speak out loud, but her eyes spoke of everything. Her eyes held terror for me. _

_Dear Diary, _

_I remember the shadow man and shadow woman, and I dreamed about them last night. They were having a conversation, but it was too muffled in my ears, but I remember hearing a scream, and then a name—Malakai. The shadow woman's screams are my nightmares when I don't have these dreams, but it is enough to make them frightening. Sometimes I just dream, and hear her high pitched cries._

_Dear Diary, _

_The dreams are getting worse. The shadow man tortured the woman again, and I have come to realize that the shadow man's name is Malakai. It was easy to figure out, like if it was somehow planted in my head. _

_I watched the shadow woman scream when he gripped her arm so tightly tonight. I knew she was too weak to hold off _something_. It was like she was trying to protect me from him, always trying to save me. _

_The scariest thing of it all, just now when I woke up, there was throbbing pain exactly where Malakai had grabbed the shadow woman, and as I looked down, I noticed there was a faint bruise beginning to form on my own skin. _

I hurled the diary away from me. It clattered to the floor before slamming against my closed door. It left me trembling, what I had reread, and now I understood why I had put off looking at it again for so long.

My dreams, my nightmares chilled me to the core, and left me shaken. I had no idea what was wrong with me, but I knew five things.

Malakai was dangerous, the shadow woman was somehow a part of me, I was different, these dreams were definitely more than just dreams, and I was_ dying_.

The last one freaked me out, but I knew it to be true. Something inside of me was dying slowly, some part of me was changing and I wasn't sure if I could actually survived it.

I don't think I am strong enough to survive whatever was coming for me, and yes, the shadow man wanted me desperately. I just knew it and that shadow woman—who I knew that was somehow a part of me—was trying to keep me far, far away.

I pitied her.

I felt sorry for everything she had to go through. I wish that she would speak to me, like she had done in the past. I knew she spoke to me. I knew it was her now. I was not going crazy the way I thought I had been. She was in my mind, she _talked_ to me. But she hadn't for a few months now.

I had no one to talk to, not even Eric.

I felt the need to keep it from him now, just as I did the bruise that had appeared on my skin. Malakai was dangerous, I knew this, and I also knew in the back of my mind that whatever Malakai was, Eric couldn't stop him. He couldn't stop him from getting what he wants from me.

I had to do that.


End file.
